


A Rough Patch

by AmayaNoCho



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Anal Sex, Blizzards & Snowstorms, Blood, Early Work, Illness, M/M, Nightmares, Nudity, Rough Sex, Seme Grimmjow, Sex, Shower Sex, Uke Ulquiorra, Vomiting, tub sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 10:12:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 22,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4056175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmayaNoCho/pseuds/AmayaNoCho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Grimmjow found him with seemingly no recollection of his prior life, he takes Ulquiorra in and helps him in his new life. When things seem settled and well, however, something seems wrong with the prior Cuarto Espada.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The New Morning Routine

**Author's Note:**

> Possibly my first GrimmUlqui fanfic, if memory's serving me right, but I hope you all enjoy! 
> 
> Bleach and its characters all belong to Tite Kubo, not me. This story, however, is by me.

Ulquiorra let out a small groan as he slept, the dreams he was having melting into the terrible nightmares that had been haunting him for the past week. He didn't understand why they kept returning, being unable to trace them back to having any sort of origin whatsoever that he knew of, yet they seemed to always return now, and were always so similar to one another, what with the same people and places repeating themselves with every morning. It seemed to always happen this way, too, with him being able to sleep restfully for a while, just until morning came; the earliest one had started was sometime around three in the morning, and the latest he had had this happen was around six. It was about three thirty now, though he was still trapped within the grasp of the nightmare, unknowing of time outside of this oncoming hell. 

As he struggled, still unconscious in bed, lying on his right side, his left hand grabbed at the top of his pillow tightly while his breaths began to become shorter, more panicked. Even though the images that flashed by were still the more calm ones, including one with him and a much taller, masculine figure without a shirt and with a weird jaw in a place of some sort that was surrounded by trees, and one with him and the same stranger suddenly before a group of people, one being a man with brown hair that was sitting in an absurdly tall chair saying something that he could never hear, never understand, he knew exactly what these images were leading to, the whole reason behind why his physical panic always started when these images showed, a natural reaction to the familiarity of them and what was to follow. When he had first had these nightmares, it was hard for him to pinpoint which one was him, thinking that maybe he was just watching strangers, until he had finally decided that the one that looked exactly like him that never took that strange head thing off had to be him. He was even the same height, too, and looked to be the exact same build, also. 

As Ulquiorra's left leg began to bend a bit, his right hand clenching and relaxing several times, the horrible part finally began. He was in battle now, completely emotionless in the nightmare, just like he always was in these wretched nightmares, these horrible images that he just wanted to go away. The opponent was a boy with spiky orange hair, a boy that he didn't even know, a boy that looked to only be a teen, a high school student, possibly. Why? As the one that was him fought the boy throughout the random images of battle, the snippets that showed the boy being beaten, seeming to be losing miserably to him, the question began to haunt him once again, the burning question as to why he was doing this, why he was beating the poor boy to such a miserable state, trying to kill him. 

He was sweating now, his pale skin beginning to join his limbs in the familiar panic. He let out another groan as the battle continued, unable to hear any of it, hearing only his own thoughts, his own terror that was forming. His nightmares never had any sound to them, only the horrid images. How was it that he had those wings, that he was able to do such horrible things to another being, to a boy he didn't even recognize? As he changed to that familiar last form, the one with the long horns on his head and the long, deadly tail, he began to unconsciously shake his head, trying desperately to stop himself, not wanting to do any more to the other male except to just walk away, to let him live. His mouth was open slightly now, muttering the word no pathetically now, silently and without voice, wishing that it would reach that other him and make him do it, make him stop, before it was too late. No matter how hard he ever tried, he could never get even a single word out. 

Ulquiorra had never made it this far before into this battle, this hell, usually being awoken before it got so far. He watched in terror as he mercilessly blasted a hole through the boy, a shot that had probably just killed him. 

"Ulquiorra?" The familiar voice was muted by his fear, his focus on the battle, on the horror that was by his hands. But was it really done by his hands? "Ulquiorra!" He jumped a bit as he finally awoke from the nightmare, his breaths like that of one who had just finished a run much too long for them while his body was a leaf in the wind, trembling uncontrollably. His face was a tad wet, and he shakily reached up to wipe a small bit of spit away from the corner of his mouth with the sleeve of his night shirt, which was black and fit considerably loose on him, unlike the matching shorts, which were a size too small, though they still fit him, so he still wore them. He glanced down at the familiar hand on his shoulder that had startled him with the voice, glad that he had finally snapped him out of that mess. 

"G-Grimmjow?" Grimmjow was sleeping in the other bedroom, which was right next to Ulquiorra's bedroom. Something about the blue-haired man had seemed familiar to him somehow when they had first met, almost as if though they had met before. Grimmjow had even somehow known his name before he knew Grimmjow's, but he still wouldn't tell him how he had known this. 

"Man, this is getting to seem like you've got some kinda problem or somethin'," he muttered, suddenly sitting beside the shorter male and getting a hand on Ulquiorra's forehead. "Great, you've even got a fever!" His words seemed harsh, but Ulquiorra had learned quite quickly that he wasn't meaning it all to be so; he was concerned, truthfully, but he just wasn't so great at showing that. He seemed to be quite comfortable with anger, however, and disapproval. "Ulquiorra, I'm starting to think we may want to go see someone about this soon." Ulquiorra shook his head stubbornly. 

"I have to go to work, Jeagerjaques." Calling him by his last name, Grimmjow learned, was a last resort of Ulquiorra's that he had decided to do if he was trying to make himself clear, trying to say that that was that. "I'm not going anywhere else but here when I'm done with work." Grimmjow frowned. The fact that the other was considerably shorter than him and was in such a pathetic position definitely made it seem all the less effective, yet the memories of what he used to be, of how much stronger he was before Ichigo had defeated him, had brought about a new sort of pity towards Ulquiorra. Whether he knew it or not, this was usually why he let him have his way, the memories and the fact of what he was now. He still had spiritual energy of a good amount, yet he was somehow alive again in a way that had left him without that piece on the left side of his head and with what seemed to be no recollection of his life before, his life as Aizen's fourth Espada. Grimmjow was perfectly fine with all of this, of course, especially with how they were now living in the same building and didn't need to be at each other's throats like before. He had bought and was now living in a house with the other for now their sixth month, not bringing up their life before at all. 

"Fine, fine." Grimmjow stood himself up. "Well, it's four o'clock, Ulquiorra, so I'm going back to bed. Sheesh, to think I don't have to go to work 'til eight, yet ya keep on wakin' me up so damned early with this, whatever it is!" A whole week now of this same morning routine, except at different times, and all _before_ seven! He stopped for a moment at the doorway before looking over his shoulder at Ulquiorra. "So, what exactly _was_ that all about, anyway?" 

"I'm not even sure." Ulquiorra placed his right hand onto the headboard of his bed and carefully got himself onto his feet. Surely Grimmjow would just tell him to get over it if he told him about the nightmares? Maybe he would tell him to just stop thinking about them so much and maybe they would go away. "You know, it was... Nothing. Nothing to worry about." Before Grimmjow could reply, Ulquiorra quickly made his way into his bathroom, which, luckily, was through a door in his bedroom. This morning, it was getting to double as a quick escape from further interrogation about his nightmares.


	2. Bus Ride

After his shower, Ulquiorra made his way down the hall to the kitchen, then proceeded to look through the cabinets to try and decide on what exactly to have for breakfast before leaving. He was now wearing a red short-sleeved shirt with one of his pairs of black work pants, which had a pocket on each side on the front of them, and black shoes. Grimmjow was surely asleep again by now, so he couldn't make anything too big and hope for him to reheat his share. It was, after all, still only six o'clock now, and it was a Monday, being the twenty-sixth of November, furthering the fact that Grimmjow wouldn't be up yet. Knowing he didn't have too much time now before he had to be at work, he grabbed up his house key and wallet, pocketing those before getting an apple from the basket on the counter and heading out. 

Once at the bus stop, he only had to wait a couple of minutes at the bench before it arrived, which he stepped onto the bus and paid the driver his fee before looking around the seats. Once he saw the familiar orange-haired girl with the berets, he went over and sat beside Orihime, who, like Grimmjow, had somehow also known his name before he had even known hers. She had also seemed familiar the first time they had met, but he had disregarded this strange coincidence. She was a school student with a bright smile and a friendly attitude who had, when they first met, seemed surprised by him when he had stepped onto the bus, having gotten there before him, as always, and was already seated at an empty seat. Something about him asking her her name seemed to somehow comfort her, but, like the fact of her already knowing his name, he had disregarded this. 

"Good morning, Ulquiorra!" He gave her a nod. "Are you looking forward to work today?"  
"Not any more or less than usual," he replied, a routine reply that she seemed to be completely ok with.  
"Well, I'm definitely looking forward to school today!"  
"You always are, aren't you?" She gave a small, happy sound and a smile in reply.  
"Well, I get to see my friends at school, and I'm always looking forward to that!" He nodded. The aspect of school, however, seemed to escape him, having no memory whatsoever of ever having been to one himself. Just the thought of how he couldn't recall any sort of childhood or school life, especially after how Orihime had explained to him once that people her age had to attend, made him wonder whether or not he may just be suffering from amnesia, especially with how the two people he had gotten to know so well seemed to already know his name before he had even introduced himself or known theirs. It seemed like a very reasonable explanation, yet he hadn't woken up in a hospital when he had. 

"I'm always glad to hear that." She smiled again before they became silent. It wasn't at all an awkward or uncomfortable silence of any sort, just a simple silence between two friends who didn't have any more to say at the moment, simply enjoying one another's company as the bus rolled on. When they reached the school she attends, Ulquiorra stood to let her out before sitting himself back down and taking the apple out. When he grabbed breakfast to go like he had done today, he never did want to eat in front of her, knowing how this was rude, unless he brought her something, too. 

That was when it hit him. Ulquiorra frowned as he looked down at his feet. He had forgotten, once again, to pack himself something for lunch. To think he had had all that free time this morning, too, to think about this, yet he still hadn't done it! He swore quietly to himself as he leaned back in his seat, wishing now that he had noticed this earlier. It was too late now, however, and he would just have to either go without or hope someone would share, as risky of an idea as that second one was, what with the weather being so cold and illness being more easily caught this time of the year.


	3. At Work

After clocking in, Ulquiorra went to sit at his desk, rubbing at his still-warm forehead. He had been able to ignore it up until now, something he wished now that he hadn't done. Did they have anything to help this at home anywhere? The fever had brought along a migraine now, but he was far from wanting to go home just yet, taking deep, steady breaths to help himself ignore the pain of it as he wrote on and signed the papers that were on his desk and brought to him. Just making sure they paid the bills for the house and groceries was enough to make him glad they didn't have a car or anything else of that sort to worry about, too. He still wasn't even sure as to whether or not they had any spare money anywhere, what with how Grimmjow had decided that he was going to be handling everything; Ulquiorra just had to also work, like Grimmjow was. That was, honestly, all he knew about that. Surely both of them having to work meant something, though, right? 

"Good morning, Ulquiorra." He looked over to see one of his new co-workers standing there with a good-sized stack of papers in her arms. "Uh, if you wouldn't mind, Ulquiorra, I know some of the papers here are yours. So sorry for bothering you!"   
"It's fine," he replied, standing himself up to search carefully through the papers, not wanting to cause the whole of her stack to go to the floor. Just standing himself up had caused him to become a bit light-headed, but he had to make sure she didn't notice anything was wrong. After retrieving his own papers and placing them on his desk, he carefully took about half of them from her pile.   
"W-Wait, what are you-?"   
"Surely you do not expect me to let you try to carry this all around yourself?" He knew this was going to be a painful experience, but he also knew that this one was, unfortunately, a klutz, having been the cause of many accidents within the offices ever since she had been hired. To leave her on her own with so many papers to carry around was a recipe for disaster.   
"Oh, thank you so much!" As they went from desk to desk to deliver the papers, Ulquiorra could feel the migraine all the more strongly with every step, wishing that someone more capable and stubborn had had the papers now, someone who would've been able to handle this themself and not even allow him to help them. By the time he was back at his own desk, it was time for his lunch break, but he decided instead to work. He did, after all, have no lunch to stop for, and he had gotten almost nothing done because of all that mess of delivering other people's papers. 

Whoever's idea it was to have her handle all of that on her own was either unaware of how much of a klutz she is or has a horrible sense of humor.


	4. Chapter 4

The ride back home was a quiet one, with no sign of Orihime on the bus. This wasn't too uncommon, knowing she had friends and school to keep up with, so it wasn't upsetting or surprising for Ulquiorra when he sat down in the empty seat after paying the driver for the last time today. It was bad, however, trying to put up with the ride home with that demanding migraine pounding at the front of his skull the whole way to his stop. 

When he got home, Grimmjow was already there, sitting on the couch in the living room, watching him now as he entered. "So, how was work?" He asked it with that usual tone of his that made it sound like he didn't care too much whether or not he even got an answer. Ulquiorra merely shrugged. "You aren't feeling any better than you were this morning, do you?" He could hear the hidden concern in his voice this time.  
"I'm fine," he lied. "I just need something for this headache."  
"'Headache?' Oh no, it's _more_ than that, isn't it!?" Ulquiorra was caught off-guard by his speed as Grimmjow seemed to almost teleport from the couch to behind him, holding Ulquiorra's wrists behind his back with one hand while he checked Ulquiorra's forehead with the other.  
"Grimmj-!"  
"Ulquiorra, you're even warmer than you were this morning!" The anger in his voice worried Ulquiorra, especially after that scary demonstration of speed. "That's it! You aren't going to work tomorrow, and that's that!"  
"But Grimmjow-"  
"Ulquiorra Schiffer," he spoke sternly, "you are officially, as of now, _not_ going to work tomorrow! I don't care if I have to tie you to your bed!" Ulquiorra got a weak grip on Grimmjow's arm after Grimmjow had removed his grip from his wrists, though Ulquiorra knew he wouldn't be able to do anything but just that. The light-headedness was returning, and all he wanted to do now was lie down. 

"Grimmjow-"  
"No, _Ulquiorra_! We aren't arguing this anymore, and that's that!" The small sound that came from Ulquiorra's throat, the light, pathetic noise, made Grimmjow stop. "Ulquiorra?" He definitely wasn't hiding his concern now. Just the fact that he had never had someone he knew get ill before wasn't helping his comfort level one bit, but after that? "Hold on, ok? I'm getting you back in bed." He scooped Ulquiorra up, walking down the hall until he reached Ulquiorra's room, opening the door and going in to set Ulquiorra in bed.  
"My head..." Grimmjow nodded, suddenly and involuntarily starting to stroke one of Ulquiorra's cheeks, trying desperately to comfort him. Ulquiorra gave a groan. "Grimmjow... I think I might..." Grimmjow quickly went to Ulquiorra's bathroom, retrieving the bucket that Ulquiorra had under the sink in there and getting to the side of his bed. Grimmjow carefully sat him up and helped him, holding Ulquiorra's hair back just as he threw up, wishing desperately that Ulquiorra wasn't having to go through this. He had become a better person since Grimmjow had found him, confused and lost as he sat out there in that forest, completely alone and not remembering any of what had happened. He even was, and still is, without that thing that was on his head, just like with Grimmjow and the jaw that he had had before, but his position was due to the geigai he's in. He was surprised when he found out about Ulquiorra having no recollection of anything prior to that day, but he had gotten over it, glad now that he had been able to start over with the other ex-Espada because of this ignorance of their lives before. 

"Try to relax, 'k?" Ulquiorra nodded slowly, his breaths shorter now after that. He was shaking a bit, having never thrown up before, and was scared of doing so again. His throat was burning after that, and it felt as if he might do that again.  
"Grimmjow..." Grimmjow went to the bathroom again, only this time came out with the small cup that was kept on the sink in there, which he had filled with water for Ulquiorra. He sat down behind him on the bed and gently sat him back up, this time leaning him against his chest, and got the cup to Ulquiorra's lips to get him to drink it. "I don't want to do that again, Grimmjow. I... I don't care what I have to do." Grimmjow nodded, then checked the clock on the small drawer beside Ulquiorra's bed.  
"Ulquiorra, I'm going to call in for both of us for tomorrow, 'k? I'm not leavin' ya home alone like this." He slowly shook his head.  
"You shouldn't stay, too. What about the bills? What if you need that day off someday?" He had become so much more empathetic, so much more sympathetic, and expressed so much more emotion now, it was odd to think back on how he was before when he spoke like this. 

"Ulquiorra, we're fine." He looked up at Grimmjow, confused. "I'm not lying to make you feel better, either. We're fine for being able to pay, and it's only one day! Damn," he remarked, glancing away, "you're worrying too much! It's no wonder you're sick! Probably worried yourself sick!" There was silence for a few minutes before Grimmjow spoke again. "I'm sleeping in here with you tonight."  
"What?"  
"Well, you're sick, for one." Grimmjow was back to trying, once again, to sound less caring than he really felt about it all as he continued on speaking. "And for another thing, you're going to have one of those nightmares of yours again and have me rushing in here to quiet you down, _again_! I just _know_ it's gonna happen! It's like you need someone to wake you up during those, you know that!?"  
"I... Yeah." Grimmjow looked confused at this response, having expected a denying retort rather than agreement. "I don't think I'm going to be able to eat after... After doing that." He definitely didn't want to see if eating was a good or bad idea and risk going through that again. Vomiting hurt his throat, tasted disgusting, hurt his stomach a bit, and had caused this to happen, the tears, which he was now using a finger to wipe away. 

"Well then, get yourself changed and I'll go get myself a sleeping bag from the other room." Grimmjow got himself up on his feet and headed towards the door. "You're becoming such a handful, you know that?" After he had left, Ulquiorra went to his bathroom, starting the water for the tub now before taking his shirt off. A nice, warm shower sounded good to him right about now, though at the same time he wasn't quite so sure about it. Shrugging the doubt off, he finished undressing and got himself into the tub, pulling the curtains and then the tab on the tub faucet to cause the water to switch over to the shower head. The water felt great at this point. 

However, this only lasted but maybe ten minutes. He felt his head go fuzzy again as he leaned against the wall, closing his eyes to try to make it better. Why was today going so poorly? Weren't those nightmares enough as it is? He started to take deep breaths, finishing the shower quickly before reaching out and getting his towel, wrapping it around himself as he sat down on the rug. After another five minutes, his migraine had, once again, lightened some, just enough for him to get himself dressed and turn the water off. He looked out into his room to see if Grimmjow was there yet before making his way slowly to his bed and collapsing himself onto it. It wasn't long before he was asleep, joined a few hours later by a fed Grimmjow, having changed into his blue pajama pants and was, as usual, going without a top, who made himself comfortable on the sleeping bag beside the bed with a few blankets he had gotten from his own room. 

It was definitely a relief for him to come in to find Ulquiorra already sleeping soundly and _not_ struggling against yet another nightmare or throwing up from illness.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick fun facts about this chapter:  
> 1) When I had typed this part, I actually did decide to do the same online search Grimmjow did and typed according to what I found  
> 2) I did try searching Ulquiorra's symptoms as well to try to be more realistic with the results here

When morning came, so did the nightmares, except this time they were much more relentless than any other morning. There were no peaceful pictures or scenes to warn him of the upcoming battle this time, with only smaller fights that the other him was in. What made things even worse was that he recognized Grimmjow in some of the battles against the man that looked like him, except that the Grimmjow in the fights had a strange jaw on the right side of his face. What in the world was all of this madness going through his mind? 

His left hand grasped the side of the bed this time instead of the pillow, which his right hand was able to instead get a hold of. His breathing grew shorter while he began to mutter "no" and "stop" to himself, trying to get it all to stop. What was that this other him was so willing to do that he couldn't do? All he had to do was point at someone and he was able to shoot them with a seemingly large, dangerous blast of some sort, the same thing he had used on that boy in the other nightmares. 

After the several smaller fights stopped showing, he found himself opening a door into one of the rooms within one of those white palaces. Why was he going in here now? Inside the room, there wasn't much to be seen, and he couldn't help but feel as if he knew this room somehow.  
Over on the couch sat Orihime, her face seeming so impossibly sad as she turned to face him, no trace of a smile to be found as her eyes landed on his face. What had he done to her? Before he could even try to speak, the scene began to fade into nothingness. He was back at that battle again, only this time it started him after the hole was in the boy's chest, his body lifeless in the other Ulquiorra's hand as he held him by the throat. He was also standing in another spot this time, not being in the usual view of seeming to be directly beside the other him. He looked beside himself to see her again, watching in pure despair what the other him was doing. 

She loves him, yet he had killed him. The thought suddenly entered his mind as this scene suddenly began to fade, too, suddenly showing Orihime sitting in front of what looked like the orange-haired boy, except with longer hair and a mask with long horns on it. The battle began to go as they usually did in these nightmares, skipping around the scenes of the battle, yet keeping them all in order. It was all horrifying madness, all hatred, all lust to kill the other.  
Who is he? Why are they trying to kill each other? Why does he suddenly look like that? The battle had turned against his other self now.  
"Ulquiorra, _wake up_!" He opened his eyes quickly, though the blood was all still too much for him this time. There had been so much more this round, what with both the smaller battles and the scenes his horrid mind had chosen this time from the finale. He quickly reached for the bucket and vomited, the sweat slowly going down his warm face as he tried to catch his breath before vomiting once more. "Ulquiorra!" He wanted to tell Grimmjow that he was going to be ok, but his breath was still gone, his throat was burning, and the tears certainly weren't going to be ignored this time, either. He could feel Grimmjow holding his shoulders the whole time he had been throwing up. "Lay back down and try to relax, Ulquiorra, but don't go falling asleep on me, ok?" He nodded slowly as Grimmjow laid him down on the bed before vanishing from the room. 

How did he do that, going about as fast as they did in his nightmares? Ulquiorra sighed shakily. Why in the world was he still thinking about it when he was supposed to be trying to relax?  
Because Grimmjow and Orihime had been in his nightmares this time, and he had hurt them both.  
Grimmjow made a call to the nearest doctor before trying to think of what to do for their breakfast. He wasn't a very good cook like Ulquiorra had proven himself to be, but if he could find a recipe for something online, he could follow the directions. Hell, anyone could follow directions, just so long as they had everything to do it! He frowned. But what should he not be giving Ulquiorra? He got a plastic cup and filled it with water, bringing that back to Ulquiorra. After helping him drink it, sitting on the side of the bed for at least a couple of minutes or three, he made his way back to the kitchen and set the cup onto the counter for later. 

It was five fifteen now. He went to his bedroom and grabbed up his laptop, bringing that into the kitchen so he could try to figure out what wasn't a good idea for someone who was throwing up. After searching "what not to eat when vomiting," he began to look around at the results. Sweets, fatty foods, spicy, chocolate, citrus, meat, salty... Someone had even mentioned milk as a bad option, too. "Shit," he muttered, "that's _really_ narrowing my choices down." He thought back to one of the links, which had gotten a response with a small list of what could be consumed, along with several of the other people mentioning stuff like this, too. Bread and toast were good, though he had left that link wondering why they had mentioned both when they're practically the same thing?, along with tea, water, and clear sodas. Everyone that had mentioned food to eat seemed to always mention crackers. "Looks like I don't have to be creative," he remarked, glad that he had all this excuse for any sort of complaints. 

Just as he was getting bread into all four of the toaster's slots, he heard a knock at the door before it was suddenly opened. "Hello?" Grimmjow looked down the hall towards the front door where the black-haired man now stood in the doorway. "Ah, hello!" The man walked over to Grimmjow now. "Kurosaki Isshin, here to help! May not be from the hospital, but my clinic got a call for me to come over here instead!" Kurosaki? Wasn't that Ichigo's last name, too? Almost as if the mere thought had summoned him, the orange-haired teen had walked over tiredly to the doorway. Was this his father, then? "So, you seem to be doing well."  
"Yeah, but I'm not the sick one." Just Grimmjow's voice seemed to wake Ichigo up now, causing him to now look straight at him. "He's in his bedroom, in bed-"  
"Ah, good!" Mr. Kurosaki frowned a bit. "Which door is that?" Grimmjow led him down the hallway, noting that Ichigo was also following now, too. When they reached the bedroom door, Grimmjow opened it, but only allowed Isshin to enter. 

"He isn't used to having guests over," Grimmjow spoke calmly, "and if it weren't for how much worse he had gotten yesterday, I wouldn't have even been able to call you over here, what with how stubborn he can get about it." In all truth, he just didn't want Ichigo to go near Ulquiorra, not after how things had played out the last time the two had encountered one another. Ichigo definitely didn't seem too happy with this idea.  
"But there's only two of us-" Grimmjow knew just what he was assuming: trap.  
"He's been throwing up, kid," Grimmjow retorted, "so I'm not taking any chances!" Isshin nodded thoughtfully.  
"Ichigo, wait for me in the hall in case I need you, ok?"  
"But-!" Isshin gave him a stern look that seemed to do the trick quite well. "Just let me see the patient once, then." Ichigo glanced into the room. His eyes widened a bit just before Grimmjow decided to shut the door. "Hey!"  
"Ya got your look, didn't ya!?" Ichigo glared at him. 

"What're you up to?" Grimmjow remained silent. "You're Grimmjow, _aren't_ you?" Grimmjow smirked.  
"Can't even recognize me now?"  
"Of course I recognize you!" He pointed at the door. "And I sure as hell recognized him, too! Listen, if anything happens to my dad while he's in there-!"  
"Well, so that _was_ your dad, then!" Grimmjow didn't care if he was getting to him or not at this point. Hell, at least the kid was awake now, and he was doing such a good job at keeping him awake! "You know, after hearing his name, I wasn't quite so sure about that until you finally showed at the door." Before he could consider his next move, Grimmjow's smirk faded. "We aren't up to anything, Kurosaki. I wasn't tryin' to pull anythin' when I made that call. Hell, I didn't even know they'd call your dad to come over here." This seemed to calm the boy a bit, though it was obvious he was still keeping his guard up. "I also wasn't kidding about the barfing, either. He hasn't been feeling so well for a while now, and it finally decided to kick his ass hard yesterday, whether it was while he was at work or when he got home." 

"'Work?' Ulquiorra's... He's got a job?" Grimmjow nodded. It didn't surprise him one bit that the kid was in disbelief. After all, the last time the two had met, Ulquiorra was the ever-so-powerful fourth Espada working for Aizen when he was trying to make that key thing.  
"We both do, Ichigo. Been living here, in this house, for six months, as a matter-of-fact, and we haven't gotten into any trouble 'til now, and that's with his illness. Aizen was defeated, an' we don't have to put up with him anymore. We can do whatever the hell we want now without him, and with this second chance we were both given. I'm sure as hell not gonna waste it tryin' to do some worthless shit like taking over some worthless places." This seemed to calm him down further. "Maybe you want somethin'? You human's courtesy shit mentions something about a host offering that kinda thing, right?" Ichigo smirked a bit at this.  
"Yeah, but I'm fine." Grimmjow shrugged.  
"Hey, suit yourself. As for me, I'm gettin' our breakfast finished, knowin' that toast is out by now." As he walked down the hall, he stopped just before going into the kitchen. "An' kid?" Ichigo waited for him to continue. "Don't go in there. Please." He looked confused, suddenly deciding to head down the hall and also go into the kitchen. 

"Why? You think he's contagious or something?" Grimmjow shook his head while buttering the toast and placing it onto one of the two plates he had gotten out.  
"No, it's just..." Would he believe him if he told him? It was too strange for even himself to believe sometimes. "Well, ya see, I found 'im out there," pointing with the knife, "about six months ago, not long before I got this place. Found him in among those trees, just kinda sittin' there like he had nothin' better to do with his new life. When I walked up to him and said, 'hey, Ulquiorra!' he looked at me like I was out of my freakin' mind!" He looked over at the empty plastic cup. "I remember wonderin' why he wasn't doing anythin' in response until he asked me who I was after a few minutes. When I told him, he asked how we knew each other, or how I knew him, 'cause I felt familiar somehow to him."  
"Wait, so he doesn't remember you from before?" Grimmjow nodded, placing the last piece of toast down onto the plate. It was a relief the kid wasn't taking this all as a joke or something along those lines.  
"Ulquiorra doesn't remember one single damned thing from before. Hell, he told me about a week ago that he met that girl at the bus stop, that one Aizen had us kidnap, an' it was like he had never met her until that day! Here I was thinking somethin' went down over there before work, but no, he had just made friends with this girl he couldn't remember at all!" 

"Wait, but Orihime never mentioned this..." Grimmjow shrugged.  
"Probably knew you'd try to save her from nothing." He turned to face Ichigo, leaning back against the counter. Now that he thought about it, it was the very next morning that Ulquiorra had started having those hellish nightmares that kept forcing Grimmjow to wake him up to get him out of them... Was there some sort of connection? Had she done something to Ulquiorra? "Does she know any tricks that might cause someone to start having constant problems now?"  
"Why would you even ask that?" Ichigo was back on the defensive now. "Are you accusing her of something?"  
"No, not yet." Ichigo stood himself up from where he had sat at the table only but a few minutes ago. "It's just a little strange, but Ulquiorra's been havin' these damned nightmares every mornin' since he met her. Those nightmares also came with the illness, I caught on, but he wouldn't have any of it and I let him be about it."  
"Well, it couldn't have been Orihime! I don't know what's wrong with him, but whatever it is, she didn't do it! She wouldn't have!" Grimmjow shrugged casually. 

"Fine, whatever." He thought a moment. "Actually, maybe you can do me an' her a little favor and see if you can prove it." Ichigo went silent, but he knew he was either trying to think of how to go about this or waiting for Grimmjow to go on and tell him. "Tell her Ulquiorra's sick, that you and your father came over here this mornin' and found this out, and that he's sorry for not bein' on the bus this morning, knowing how they sit by each other. Ask her if she's alright with tagging along with you t' come over after school and we'll see what happens from there." Grimmjow shrugged. "I mean, maybe nothing will happen, maybe just being around her somehow keeps makin' him worse? Who knows?" That thought bothered Grimmjow more than he thought it would, especially since he had just basically invited her over here through Ichigo so she could be near Ulquiorra and test this out. What if his dumb guess to bother Ichigo was somehow right? What if he could actually still get worse, and Grimmjow had just made it possible?  
"Fine then, we'll both be over here after school." Before more could be said, a door down the hallway could be heard opening. Isshin walked down the hallway and then stood himself in the doorway to the kitchen. 

"Hope you two've been behaving while I was busy." Grimmjow shrugged. "Now, about your friend." Grimmjow looked over at Isshin. "I'm not quite sure what to make of it exactly, to be honest, but there's a chance it may just be the flu playing hard ball on him or a bad case of food poisoning... I would recommend having him stay in bed for a while, about a week or two, and let him get lots of rest. Make sure to keep him hydrated, too." Grimmjow nodded.  
"'k. Thanks." Isshin nodded.  
"Now, let's get back home, Ichigo! Need to make sure you and the girls are ready for school!" As they left, Grimmjow knew Ichigo would be telling his father about their conversation. It didn't bother him, however; knowing more might help him decide on some spirit world culprit that may just be the real answer. 

Grimmjow got a coffee mug from the cabinets and filled it with water before getting that into the microwave to heat up for tea. He didn't want any himself, but he was sure Ulquiorra may want to have something other than water to drink for the whole week or two. After that was warmed up, he got a spoon and tea bag into the mug, got the plate with toast on it on top of the other plate he had gotten out, and grabbed the mug by its handle before heading to Ulquiorra's room with it all. "You still up, Ulquiorra?"  
"I wish I wasn't." Grimmjow entered the room with a smirk after that reply.  
"Brought breakfast. If you want to sleep, you're eating." He sat beside Ulquiorra. "You need to drink some of this, too. Keep yourself hydrated and all that shit."


	6. Chapter 6

Ulquiorra wasn't quite sure about this new place. It was so dark, and it seemed like he was deep within some sort of pit. His eyes widened as he watched the black figures, the only other moving, possibly-living things down here, devour something, the blood spilling over the ground beneath their heads. His stomach churned as his imagination took hold, the horrifying ideas rushing into his head as to what they may have just been finishing off. What _are_ those things?  
It was almost as if they had heard his very thoughts, turning their heads to face him now. Was this for real? He looked down at himself. He was kneeling on the ground, his body completely white. He tried to speak, but nothing came. He couldn't even feel the ground underneath his knees, nor could he under his feet when he stood. He soon discovered that he also had black wings and a long tail, just like that other him. He had never checked himself in these nightmares before... Was he always like this in all of them? 

He couldn't hear, couldn't feel, couldn't speak... When he reached up to his face, he discovered that he didn't even have a mouth to speak. There was no nose, either. All Ulquiorra had of his senses were his eyes, his sight. As he stood there, his body gave a sudden movement, the creatures before him doomed to his hands now. He didn't know what they were or what they were consuming, but even so, he hadn't wanted to kill them. He had wanted to run, to get away from whatever it was those things were, whatever was going on, but he had had no will in this, being forced to kill them. 

Except this time it had actually been him. It wasn't that other him that he had kept seeing, but it had actually been he himself that had killed those creatures. It had been by his own hands, not his other self's, that those things had died. When he had finished, he felt himself beginning to walk away from it all, walking away as if nothing had occurred. Ulquiorra wanted out of this, wanted to be back in his own body, but this one kept going, kept being the body which he was seeing through, trapping him. How could this be him, this strange thing that was so unfeeling, and how could he be so merciless as to simply kill them and walk away like it was all nothing but a simple task, simple routine? 

It seemed like forever before he reached a white tree. By now, he had started to breathe more quickly, his mind and stomach both uneased by the gore from the killing. He just couldn't take it, unlike these other hims, these others who seemed to be so adjusted to the blood. He didn't even like scary movies for this reason, an opening Grimmjow had so teasingly taken advantage of before. It had been a relief when he stopped watching them after Ulquiorra had passed out in the hallway after work a while back, an occurrence that happened after he had walked by the living room and saw part of the one Grimmjow had been watching at that moment. It wasn't exactly funny for Grimmjow anymore after that, especially since Ulquiorra had bought groceries that day and had, unfortunately, gotten new knives for the kitchen, which he had gotten cut on one of his hands by one. That had been a mess, but they had simply wrapped it and left it be for a week. 

Something about this tree seemed to get his full attention, his body stopping a moment to look at it, to truly focus on it. He felt himself beginning to walk towards it. Ulquiorra was fine with this at first, but he soon realized that he wasn't stopping, that the branches must've been getting him by now. He began to panic as he imagined the scene, his body being stabbed into and torn apart by this, blood pouring from his body. He couldn't feel the pain, couldn't feel any blood on his body, but something about this all only made things worse. When was his body planning on stopping? Was he hit anywhere vital, and it was already too late, anyway? Was this new form of him trying to kill them both? He couldn't struggle against his own body, only being able to allow it to keep doing as it pleased. Am I dead? Will I die soon? Will it all hit me, all the pain that I'm not feeling, all within the instant I die? 

"Ulquiorra!" He sat straight up, his eyes wide in fear as he struggled to catch his breath, sweat caking his face. Grimmjow, seeming to know exactly what was going to happen next, quickly got Ulquiorra's shoulders and got him facing down at the bucket. After yet another round of vomiting, Grimmjow rubbed at Ulquiorra's back a bit, trying to calm him down. If he kept on puking like this, he sure as hell wasn't going to be getting anything out of eating! Not only that, but this was definitely the first time Ulquiorra had actually tangled himself up in the blankets. Usually it was just him grabbing something like his life depended on it and his legs doing a few good kicks every now and then, but this one was definitely worse than the rest. "That's _it_! You're telling me _now_ what the _hell_ was going on in your head just now!" He felt a small twinge of regret in his stomach as Ulquiorra wiped at his eyes with his right index finger shakily. Even so, he still wasn't going to let him keep this all to himself anymore. "This is the first time this has happened at two pm, you know; you actually had a nightmare while takin' an afternoon _nap_!" 

"S-Sorry." Grimmjow sighed heavily. The hell was he saying that for?  
"If you're sayin' that 'cause of what I was saying before, you can forget it. I chose to take care of you, anyway, and I'm probably the only person who can spare time t' take care of ya, so get over it." Don't apologize to me. That's not like you, Ulquiorra. Not only that, but it seemed to make him feel worse about this all.  
Then again, he thought, the old you has been gone for a good while now, hasn't he? Ulquiorra's gone and left me to protect his weaker, far more defenseless new self. "But I'm just taking up all of your time now, aren't I? I have been ever since you found me. Ever since you decided you couldn't be wandering the place so freely anymore, what with having me around then." Grimmjow frowned.  
"No. Ulquiorra..."  
"If only I..." Ulquiorra got his arms around himself. "If only I was more like him... Just a little..."  
"Like who? Ulquiorra, who are you talking about?" Ulquiorra looked back at him before looking down. 

"The... The one in my nightmares." He's wanting to be like someone from his nightmares? "There's someone who looks like me in so many of them, in all but the one I just had. He seems so much... So much stronger than I'll ever be."  
"Ulquiorra, no-"  
"But he's terrifying, Grimmjow. He seems to be able to fight people, kill people, without any remorse for them, without any regret for the actions he's doing. He doesn't flinch at the blood or the sight of their weapon coming at him." Were his nightmares actually his past? Had Orihime somehow accidentally triggered his memories to start resurfacing as these horrible hells? "He seems to even have no fear of death itself, and he seems to have no emotions at all." When he was about to continue, he felt Grimmjow's arms around him. 

"Ulquiorra." He looked up at him. "That's... He _is_ you, Ulquiorra. You from before."  
"Before what?" His stomach felt uneasy as he thought back to the fights against the man who looked like Grimmjow. Grimmjow sighed.  
"I'll explain later, 'k?" He didn't want to lose this new Ulquiorra, this one that had no blood on his hands and no hidden hatred in his eyes. "For now, you need to get yourself cleaned up. We're gonna be havin' guests around four." He had gotten a call from Orihime during her lunch shift at school about it, with her first giving a panicked explanation about how Ulquiorra had given her the number before continuing on after he had gotten her to calm down. She had to do some grocery shopping before they came, so as to make sure she wouldn't forget to later, and then she and Ichigo would come over to visit. "One of them's Orihime, your friend from the bus." Ulquiorra nodded. 

"Grimmjow?"  
"Hm?"  
"What did I... What did I do to her to upset her so?"  
"Let's worry about it later, 'k? You need a bath."


	7. Chapter 7

"Hello?" Orihime looked inside the house curiously. "I didn't know Ulquiorra had such a nice house now." She looked over at Ichigo now, who was still surprised she was able to let herself become friends with him so easily, making it seem like she didn't remember what had happened back then, too, though he knew she did.   
"Remember now, Grimmjow's here, too."   
"Like Hell is hot," Grimmjow remarked, looking at the front door from Ulquiorra's bedroom doorway. "Hey you two."   
"Oh, hello Grimmjow!" He smirked.   
"Lemme guess; you've decided to drop what happened an' pretend it didn't?" She seemed confused at first, having met Ulquiorra first, causing the assumption that neither remembered them. This remark, however, made her a bit nervous. 

"You... You remember, then?" Grimmjow nodded. "Did something happen to Ulquiorra? Why can't he remember, yet you can, Grimmjow?" He shrugged.   
"Still figurin' it all out with him. However, I did learn that these shitty 'nightmares' are actually him remembering."   
"Seriously?" Ichigo took a step further in. "When did you learn this?"   
"About two hours ago, after he had another one ruin his nap." He pointed his thumb towards the direction of inside Ulquiorra's bedroom. "So, you all wanna come in an' visit him now? I'm sure he would much prefer that over us all leavin' him in there while we chat out here in the hallway without him." As Grimmjow stepped back into the bedroom, both Ichigo and Orihime went down the hall and followed him in. As they stepped into the room, Orihime gave a small gasp before hurrying over to his bedside to give Ulquiorra one of her awkward hugs, pressing his head against her chest. 

"Oh, Ulquiorra! I was wondering where you were this morning when there was no one at your stop!" She paused a moment in her panic to look over at Grimmjow. "Is he contagious at all?" Ichigo couldn't believe her sometimes. Wasn't it a little too late for her to ask about that now?   
"Nah, not a bit." Ichigo looked over at him.   
"How would you know?" Grimmjow smirked.   
"Well, I'm not gettin' sick any time soon. Besides, I'm pretty sure his rememberin' all that shit's why he's sick."   
"Oh, Ulquiorra!" Orihime cuddled with him. "It must be horrible!" 

Ulquiorra couldn't believe it. The orange-haired boy from his nightmares was not only real, but he was standing right here in front of him, right here in his bedroom! "Who... Who are you?" Ichigo was surprised by this, pointing at himself.   
"Me?" Ulquiorra nodded while Orihime stood herself back up curiously, watching Ichigo as well now. "Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo... Something about that name...   
"I assume you already know who I am, then, after what Grimmjow's told me." Ichigo nodded. "Well, who I was." His neutral expression turned into a bit of a frown now. "Things are so different now, aren't they?"   
"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, "looks like it." He smirked. "If Grimmjow hadn't explained things, I definitely wouldn't be understanding this all one bit. You getting sick just seems so impossible to think about." 

"For that other me, yes." He closed his eyes. "I can't even watch it all without it bothering me now. I don't understand how I was able to do it, nor do I know why."   
"You don't?" Orihime looked curiously at him. "But what have the nightmares been of, then? Surely something has shown to help you figure it out?"   
"Everything has only done just that: show. I can't hear it all or do anything about it, just watch it all flash by." Ulquiorra looked towards Grimmjow. "That nightmare from earlier had me actually be something else, something that couldn't feel anything, say anything... I could only see what my body was forcing me to do. I'm thinking that perhaps I've always been in that form in all of these nightmares, all from the beginning to the last one. I played no role in any of them except for the last one, but even so, if I would've moved, I wouldn't have felt it." He felt Orihime place her hand gently on his shoulder.   
"Ulquiorra..." He looked up at her. 

"Have you ever seen me like that?" She looked confused by this question. "I was some sort of creature that was all white, with no nose, no mouth, black wings, and a tail." He looked down at his hands. "One of the memories... I opened a door that led into a room where you were sitting on a couch. Unlike all but that one and my last one, it seemed I was always nonexistent to the others in the memory, with them never seeming so... _Focused_ on the place where I stood, where I watched. When I opened the door and stepped inside, you turned and looked right at me, seeing me. You looked... Sad."   
"I... I've never seen you look like that before, Ulquiorra. Honest." He nodded.   
"Perhaps I would've been able to hear, then, if something had made a sound in that one?" Grimmjow knew just what he had described, what that white creature had been that he had embodied. It had to have been him before Aizen, before becoming an arrancar, if it had ever been him. Had life really been like that for Ulquiorra at some point, being unable to really do or feel anything, other than watching, seeing? 

"Well," Orihime recalled, "you were your usual regular self when you would come to check on me." She thought a moment about that comment. "Uh, that being you when you had that thing on your head, right here," pointing on her own head, "that kind of looked like a piece of some kind of old warrior helmet." Ulquiorra nodded.   
"Why didn't you seem happy to see me? Were you put into that room after Ichigo and I had fought?" Orihime looked over at the other two boys. They, too, were thinking about the same thing as her: How could she possibly explain to him that Ichigo had killed him in one of their battles, and that it all depended on _which_ battle? 

"Uh, after which time you fought him? You two fought several times."   
"We were up somewhere high, somewhere where it was nighttime throughout the whole battle." So, he was asking about his death battle? Ichigo didn't know what to say as she looked back at them.   
"That was your final stand, Ulquiorra." Ichigo looked over at Grimmjow. He must've been able to get around and figure everything out at some point. After all, it really had been a while since he and Urahara had taken care of Aizen. From what he had told Ichigo earlier, about how he had found Ulquiorra, chances were that he had been around for a good while longer, especially with how he had been able to get a nice place like this and didn't end up having to stick them both into an apartment. "Ichigo had defeated you in that fight. You had died." 

"I had..." Orihime hugged Ulquiorra tightly.   
"But it's all over now, Ulquiorra! It's been over for a good while now! We shouldn't have to worry at all about it now, right?" Grimmjow nodded.   
"Yeah, it's all water under the bridge now, ya know? Besides, the only reason we were even fightin' was 'cause of Aizen, the guy we were so obediently following the orders of. Well, you were, at least."   
"Was that why we fought, you and I?" Grimmjow hated thinking about that now, for one reason or another. Perhaps it was because they got along so well now? He nodded.   
"Yeah. We were on the same side, but I was a little... No, I _was_ disobedient, to put it as bluntly as possible. You, however, were possibly the most obedient of the bunch when it all came down to it. You would've thought he was God to you, with how well you listened an' followed along with his plans!" 

Orihime smiled. "But he's been dealt with, Ulquiorra, so you don't have to worry at all! We're friends now, and we can start over now! Aizen won't be involved and ruining us all being friends now!" He looked over at her before looking at the other two. Grimmjow looked over at the wall, somehow pained by this whole friend idea. He was fine with calling the other two that, but why was it so different with Ulquiorra? Ichigo smirked, glad to hear that from her and believe it so fully.   
"Yeah..." Ulquiorra nodded. "We'll start again. Not so much blood this time, though. Please." Grimmjow smirked, shaking his head slowly at this while the other two laughed.


	8. Chapter 8

"You showered and ready for bed now?" Grimmjow looked into Ulquiorra's room. He was lying on the bed, appearing to be asleep. "You awake?" He came in, dropping the sleeping bag beside Ulquiorra's bed before sitting beside him. He was so small, so fragile, compared to himself, especially now, after all that had happened with Aizen. Yes, he had always been shorter than Grimmjow, but he wasn't taller than him now because of strength, having had that and his abilities to put him above him before. Grimmjow could still do what he could back then, but he had decided only to do that when he needed to protect himself. 

Seeing Ulquiorra like this and thinking about this all had him thinking otherwise. "If anything happens, I'll protect both of us, Ulquiorra. It's been you an' me ever since I found you, an' not just me anymore. It won't ever be just me again." Especially not after today. He placed a hand on Ulquiorra's shoulder, feeling his calm, deep breathing under his hand for a few minutes before deciding to spread the sleeping bag out and get some sleep for himself, too. 

This was all feeling so much more different for him now, and not just because of what had changed after Aizen's defeat. He had a new feeling buzzing in his head, in his chest, in his stomach, when he was with Ulquiorra lately. He had been fighting it off for a while now, but he was starting to feel worn out by this useless battle, wanting instead to surrender to it and learn what this new personal enemy even was, and maybe even befriend it, if he liked the results. 

Maybe tomorrow, he decided to himself. Maybe tomorrow.


	9. Chapter 9

Ulquiorra sat silently in the famliar forest once more, looking around himself with only his eyes in confusion, unable to move anything else.   
Why was he back here? This was where Grimmjow had found him, where this new life began. He felt a hand on his shoulder, yet he couldn't move at all, his whole body paralyzed. "There. Without Aizen, you ought to be safe enough to be around again, too." Who was this speaking behind him? Like Orihime and Grimmjow, he seemed familiar, yet he couldn't put a name with the voice. "Might not be a good idea to let you just head on off on your own, however." The male behind him seemed to be in contemplation now about this. "Ah-ha! I know just how to fix this!" He could hear him searching around in his pockets, making Ulquiorra nervous now. Who was he? What was he doing? Was he responsible for him being alive again? Ulquiorra suddenly heard a small sound come from his own throat. Wait, he made a sound! Was this all real, then? 

"Now now, relax!" The male behind him now came to stand before him, though he could only see the man's clogs and pants. "You're very lucky I've even done this, you know. To allow you all to try again... Let's see what happens." He felt his mouth being opened and a small pill being placed into it. What was he being given? What was going to happen? "That ought t' both suppress your memories for a while, hopefully long enough, and allow your spiritual force to feel more... Normal, as one could put it, from now on." Ulquiorra felt the man's hand on his chin as his head was tilted back to assist with swallowing the pill. The man was wearing a green cloak of some sort with a green and white striped hat and had shaggy light hair and grey eyes. 

After the pill was swallowed, he felt the man close his eyes with his other hand. "Of course, let's hope for your sake that we don't run into any memory triggers anytime too soon, hm? We wouldn't want the both of us and the others to get into any trouble for ol' Urahara's actions today." Urahara? This was Kisuke Urahara! "Good luck, kid. Grimmjow ought to be here in another couple of hours, which will give the pill more than enough time to take effect." He felt Urahara's hand on his head before he heard the man walk a bit away. The man was gone then, having done the same fast movements as Grimmjow would sometimes do, making himself seem like he had teleported. Was this all what had happened? Had that man truly figured out a way to bring him back and had done it?   
Was he truly capable of outwitting Death itself, or had he figured out a way to make a deal with him? 

He woke slowly, not suddenly and panicked like he had been doing for so long. Was he better now? "Lookie here! You woke up on your own for the first time in _how_ long!?" He looked over at Grimmjow and blinked a bit.   
"Have you been sitting there watching me this whole time?" Grimmjow shrugged.   
"Had nothin' better to do, honestly."   
"TV?" Grimmjow shook his head at the suggestion.   
"Didn't feel like watchin' it, and I've already got today figured out as much as I feel I need to, as far as what they could've told me; it's the twenty-eighth of November and it snowed, so it's cold. There."   
"It snowed?" Grimmjow nodded. Ulquiorra liked the snow, though he didn't appreciate the cold much. If there was a way to have snow on a warmer day, he would much prefer it. He slowly sat himself up. 

"You're not going out in that, though."   
"But I didn't have a nightmare this morning. It was just a peaceful recollection." He frowned. "Why not?" Grimmjow's hand was suddenly on Ulquiorra's forehead.   
Grimmjow's hand felt like a welcome ice pack. "That's why. You still have a fever." He sighed. "I checked you earlier, while you were still asleep. Your thoughts may be better now, but your body sure 's hell ain't." He stood himself up beside the bed. "You go an' take your morning shower, 'k? I'm gonna get the teapot on the stove." Ulquiorra was surprised to hear this.   
"Are you going to be having tea, too, then?" Grimmjow shrugged.   
"Why not?" He left the room, heading to the kitchen while Ulquiorra made his way into his bathroom. Showering was still proving to be difficult for him, but he didn't want to go without.


	10. Chapter 10

"Just stay here and relax." They finished lunch together in Ulquiorra's bedroom, something he was definitely preferring over eating alone, especially since Grimmjow was seeming to be giving up on his emotional charade, whatever the reason was behind all of that. Pride, maybe? "I'm gonna go put these in the dish washer, then I'll be outside shoveling for a while." Ulquiorra nodded. He wished so much that he could go out there with him, too, even if it was just to see the snow and feel it. To be fully honest, he had never been in snow, nor had he ever actually seen it snow before, but he had seen shows and other things that had snow mentioned or in them, and he wanted so much to see for himself what it was like. 

Grimmjow got the plates into the dish washer and put their cups on the table for future use before getting his heavy blue coat and putting that on. He got his scarf off the back of the couch and slipped his black boots on before he went and grabbed the shovel from one of the small closets that were in the hallway. He was enjoying this snow, but only because the road conditions had his and Ulquiorra's work places closed for today, making it so that he didn't have to call for either of them to take another day off. However, he definitely didn't like having to do this labor, but he knew there was a slight chance of Ichigo or Orihime stopping by, possibly even both, since schools were closed for today, too, so he wanted to make sure to clear the way to their front door for them, just in case. 

When he got outside, the freezing wind nearly knocked him over. "Dammit, a blizzard!?" Shit! Should've watched the television for this one, that's for sure! To think it had seemed so much more peaceful-looking from inside! He came back in, taking a deep breath. He went and grabbed his hat this time, putting that on before getting the hood on his coat up, too. Since it was this bad, he decided to also pull his gloves out of his coat pockets and put those on, too. After deciding this ought to be enough, he went back outside. Blizzard or no, he was going to at least try to get rid of the ice layer underneath the snow, just in case anything happened to require someone to need to walk here. He had learned that that was almost always there, that hidden ice layer. 

He had been out and about for about a year now, maybe a little over or under, give or take, and had lived in a city north of here for a good while before coming down here. He met a nice guy there who didn't flip him any shit when he admitted to having never experienced snow before. "It's the ice you've really gotta be aware of," he had taught him. "What tends to happen almost every time it snows is that the snow that landed first melts and refreezes into ice, then is covered by the snow that's still falling." He was glad he told him about this now, using the shovel to scoop the snow away from the path and then hack at the ice below. He was also careful about how fast he walked because of this knowledge, not wanting to slip on his ass, especially not in this cold. 

It took him at least a couple of hours, maybe more, but he was able to get through with the task, dropping salt he had already had ready in his coat pocket onto the path as he walked up it and back to the front door. This blizzard was definitely relentless, showing no signs of weakness or surrender in the near future. Grimmjow had even been knocked over by that God-forsaken wind at least thrice, something which had only made the whole shoveling experience that much more daunting of a task for him. It was a relief like no other to step back into the heat of the house because of all of this. 

After stripping off all of his winter gear, Grimmjow went back over to Ulquiorra's room. "'k, finished with the shoveling, Ulquiorra." As he entered the room, he felt a lump form in his throat as his eyes rested on the bed.   
There was no Ulquiorra in it. "Ulquiorra?" He better not've gone out there! Not in this blizzard! "Ulquiorra!" He searched all over the house, but he was nowhere to be found inside. Swearing profusely under his breath, Grimmjow suited back up in his gear and went back out into the blizzard to search.   
The wind felt like knives on his face as he raised his scarf a bit more over it, looking around as fear drove him further out. Had he not come to care so much by this point about the smaller male, he might've had trouble forcing himself back outside so quickly. "Ulquiorra!" Grimmjow kept his gloved hands in his coat pockets now as he walked slowly around the side of the house, unable to move very fast due to the cold's well-mastered ability of slowing things. When he got around to the back, he found the smaller one sitting in the snow, shivering terribly in his winter gear. "Ulquiorra!" He forced himself to run over to him. "Dammit, I thought I told you to stay inside!" 

"I-I was... Curious..." Grimmjow scooped him up now and started heading over to the back door, the most likely culprit for allowing Ulquiorra to escape the safety of the building without Grimmjow noticing. He was furious that Ulquiorra had disobeyed him, putting his damned curiosity before his own health!   
"You're going to get worse if you do shit like this, Ulquiorra!" He was nearly to the point of growling at him. "I thought we were trying to get you better, trying to get _better_ , not trying to go out an' make yourself _worse_!"   
"I-I'm s-sorry, G-Grimmj-jow."   
"Do I have to put a damn collar and leash on you and tie it to the bed to make sure you behave!?"   
"G-Grimmj-"   
"I shouldn't have to babysit you like that!" He shut the door fiercely behind himself after entering the house. "You're too old for that, you know!" He carried him back to his room and got him back in bed.   
"I-I said I-"   
"Damn, imagine what could've happened if I hadn't gone straight to your room when I was done! That was-!" 

"That was c-completely a-asinine of me, ok!?" Grimmjow stopped and looked at him as Ulquiorra sat himself up now. "A-And I'm s-sorry for b-being ignorant, ok!?" Ulquiorra's face was numb from the wind, causing him to not know at all about the tears he had going down his face, they were slipping from his eyes so fast. Grimmjow was surprised he was even able to yell like this. "I-I said I was sorry! Wh-What do you e-expect me to do? Wh-What else am I-I supposed to say?" Before he could even consider an answer, Ulquiorra suddenly got himself down and under his covers. It was a childish tactic of avoidance, but he couldn't have cared less at this point. When he heard Grimmjow leave the room, a slight prick of guilt chewed at his mind and chest, but he did his best to ignore it. Why did he feel guilty, anyway? Grimmjow was the one who had started yelling at him, even though he had apologized for it several times. 

They didn't interract with one another again for the whole rest of the day, with Grimmjow trying to keep himself occupied with anything he could make into a distraction around the house and Ulquiorra lying in bed, forcing himself to maneuver to a proper position to throw up twice the rest of the day. When nighttime came, Ulquiorra was too worn and guilt-bitten to get out of bed, skipping the shower and letting himself go straight to sleep. Grimmjow mustered the courage to bring in the sleeping bag and lay it out beside the bed for the night, though he wished the other had been awake still, at least for a few more minutes. The guilt Grimmjow had been feeling now was kept at bay by all that he had forced himself to do around the house, even pulling the dishes out of the washer and doing them by hand, and even watching the television, but now it was a horrible splinter in his mind and heart, being too small to remove, yet paining him ever so much. 

When he caught on to what happened while they were avoiding each other, he went over and got the bucket, heading to Ulquiorra's bathroom to clean it again. He had been making sure to do this after every round, so the fact that he wasn't here to do that or help Ulquiorra didn't help his guilt any. But Ulquiorra should've stayed inside like he had told him to! After finishing that and placing the bucket back by the bed, he went over to the sleeping bag and laid himself down on it.   
But he had apologized, too, hadn't he? Not only that, but by the looks of things, he may have even gotten worse for it, as far as Grimmjow knew. 

Sighing heavily, he closed his eyes and was able to force himself to sleep after several hours.


	11. Chapter 11

Ulquiorra didn't recognize his surroundings at all. It was dark, the moon shining brightly on him as he knelt in the deep snow. When he looked around, there wasn't even a single building in sight. As he glanced down at himself, he realized that this couldn't possibly be another recollection; he had no appearance of being that white creature again. He reached up and felt his head, not being able to find that weird thing there, either. "Hello?" He stood himself up and looked around again, hoping that someone, anyone, would show. This was horrifying, being completely alone. "Anyone?" As he took a step, a sudden hard gust of wind hit him, knocking him over and into the snow, though he didn't feel the cold that he should've from it.  
He got himself onto his hands and knees and squinted against the sudden blizzard. There was still no one, and nothing, to be seen. As he tried to get back up, the wind picked up again, knocking him back down into the snow. Scared, he got straight back onto his hands and knees and tried at crawling. He was able to get a good three feet or so before the snow suddenly grew too deep, causing him to sink into it, his head just barely above the snow. Even though he did his best to struggle against it, he couldn't save himself from the white nothingness that soon engulfed him... 

"Ulquiorra!" Grimmjow looked terrified when Ulquiorra woke up. This was a new thing to wake to. "Holy shit!" Ulquiorra's throat was burning, while his face was wet. He was trembling all over.  
By some miraculous horror, Ulquiorra had successfully thrown up in his sleep. Grimmjow quickly picked him up and carried him into his bathroom while Ulquiorra began coughing, the burning in his throat getting worse, along with the taste. He wasn't about to throw up again, was he? Grimmjow sat him on the floor against the wall across from the sink before starting to get water into the cup in there. He then helped Ulquiorra drink it before running the water from the tub faucet. "Holy crap..!" Ulquiorra was surprised that he was so concerned, especially after what bastards they had been to one another the last time they had spoken yesterday. "You feeling any better, Ulquiorra?" His head was in a fuzz as he watched the other male, suddenly feeling Grimmjow's hand on his head. "Shit, you're burning up!"  
"Grimmjow..." This was just too much for the migraine today, being awake. It was blades in his head and eyes. 

"You're definitely in need of bathing, that's for sure." Grimmjow was about to stand when he thought about this all. He wasn't going to be able to do this himself like this, now, was he? That would've been a miracle. He got the plug into the tub to stop the water from draining, deciding this was going to turn into a bath day, not a shower day. "I'll be right back, 'k? That kid's dad gave me medicine for migraines, just in case it started to really get to you like this." He was quick to leave for the kitchen and retrieve it, returning in only a matter of seconds. He refilled the cup and got one of the pills into Ulquiorra's mouth, having him drink more water to help get the pill down.  
"I'm really sorry about yesterday... How I acted towards you." Bit of an odd time to be saying this! "You were right... I shouldn't have gone outside."  
"And I shouldn't have kept on yelling at you like I did." Grimmjow carefully got Ulquiorra's shirt off, what with it being a mess from his sleep vomiting. "You apologized for it and I heard the apology, but I still just kept on going. I should've stopped when you apologized." 

"Maybe... Maybe he can help." Grimmjow looked confused at this vague idea. Who the hell was "he?"  
"Ulquiorra, I don't have the slightest clue who you're talking about."  
"The one that brought me back." So he didn't just appear out of nowhere alive again, then? There was actually someone who had brought him back? "You know who that was, right?" Grimmjow shook his head. "I saw it in a dream not last night, but the night before, when I didn't have a nightmare. I was out in the forest, and you hadn't come yet. Urahara was talking to me, even though I couldn't do anything at all, while he was setting me up for your arrival." Urahara? My arrival? Grimmjow couldn't believe it. "He even mentioned that I just had to wait a couple more hours and you would show."  
"You sure this was all true, Ulquiorra? Sounds pretty far-fetched, if ya ask me." Ulquiorra nodded. "Well, even if this is true, that guy's candy store is a good walk from here, and that blizzard still hasn't let up one bit. If anything, it got worse!" None of the buses or anything of that sort would be running today, and he wasn't sure he would be able to carry Ulquiorra all the way over there through the storm, let alone even get himself over there now. "Let's get you in there, now." Ulquiorra gave him a funny look. "What!?" 

"But this is... This is me getting a bath." He was far from sure about the idea of even finishing where Grimmjow had left off with undressing him until he left Ulquiorra alone in the bathroom, still sitting on the floor in his pajama shorts.  
"Yeah, but you've gotten worse, Ulquiorra. Chances are if you shower, you'll fall over and maybe break something, and if you bathe, you might drown." It was embarassing to think about, but Ulquiorra nodded understandingly. "Good. Now, either you finish undressing yourself or I will." As good of a cover as he was playing out, Grimmjow was definitely feeling weird about this idea. Ulquiorra got himself fully undressed and, with Grimmjow's assistance of grabbing his arm and helping, got into the tub. "Try to keep an arm on the side of the tub, 'k?" Ulquiorra laid his arm on the side of the tub. "That ought to help keep ya awake." Ulquiorra frowned at this. "What?"  
"I don't think I can do this for very long." 

"Are you serious?" Ulquiorra nodded. Sighing, Grimmjow tried to think of another option. As hard as he tried, he could only think of one other option, but that would surely put them both in a weird position. Ulquiorra watched him curiously, though Grimmjow knew that watching him stand there and think wasn't going to help keep him stay up for too long. Sighing, he came to the conclusion that this was going to stand as his only idea. "Ulquiorra, scoot yourself forward a bit." Ulquiorra seemed far from pleased by this request.  
"Please tell me you aren't asking me to sit like that the whole time, Grimmjow. I'll have no support to help me keep myself up."  
"Just do it, Ulquiorra. You won't have to be like that for too long. Trust me on this." After Ulquiorra moved himself forward, more towards the faucet and sitting now in the center of the tub, Grimmjow was quick to undress himself and sit behind him, startling Ulquiorra when he got Ulquiorra's shoulders and brought him back to lean on Grimmjow. 

"G-Grimmjow!?" His face was crimson now, not helped at all by the fact that he hadn't been warned of this. "What do you think you're doing!?"  
"A good job at keeping you from going down, that's for sure." It seemed to calm him a bit, seeing the other's startled crimson face. It was kind of cute, getting that sort of reaction out of surprising him like this. "Relax. Sheesh, I'm already acting as your live support! Do I have to add in a massage for ya, too?"  
" _No_." Ulquiorra took a deep breath before relaxing himself against Grimmjow's chest. It should've been more awkward, he thought, but it suddenly didn't seem to be too bad when he just did it. But they were both nude, weren't they? Surely this should've been something they would both want to just do and get over with quickly, right?  
Yet he was kind of enjoying it now. Grimmjow wasn't feeling tense at all, either. 

"There, see? Not so bad." Grimmjow decided to lean himself back more to further prove his point, obviously causing his body to become more laid out, though he hadn't taken this into mind at the time. Ulquiorra's face went red again when he felt Grimmjow's dick touch his ass, looking down slowly to confirm this thought before looking right back forward again.  
"G-Grimmjow..!" He felt it, too, but he had decided to not let himself worry too much about it.  
"Oops. Sorry about that, jumpy." He smirked when Ulquiorra looked over his shoulder at him. The red was still there.  
"Well, if you could just re-position yourself..?" Grimmjow feigned a look of thought now.  
"Nah." Ulquiorra straightened a bit at this response.  
"Grimmjow!" When he tried to turn himself around to face Grimmjow, Ulquiorra accidentally slipped, having moved too quickly, and splashed into the bath water facing downward. When Grimmjow pulled him up, holding him against his chest while patting his back to help him as he coughed, Grimmjow felt himself leaning his face towards the pale neck that was now so close. So close... 

Ulquiorra felt a mixture of emotions flooding into him all at once, with wishing he hadn't had to bathe now being one of them. It had gotten confusing for him, what he was feeling and what he was pretty sure he ought to be feeling. It was strange that he was being brought closer to Grimmjow now, though, his arms over Grimmjow's shoulders as Grimmjow seemed to be forcing him towards him. What in the world was getting into him? "Grimmjo-ow!" Grimmjow's sharp teeth dug into the nape of his neck, causing him to cry out in pain. Something about it felt good, though...  
"Mmm." Grimmjow smiled seductively as he released Ulquiorra's neck from the bite, giving it a lick before deciding to drag his tongue up to Ulquiorra's jaw.  
"Ah-!" He wanted to stop him, but his body was giving such a new feeling, such a horribly irresistable new sensation to all of this, that all he could do was lift his head to face the ceiling and let Grimmjow continue on with his tracing, feeling Grimmjow's tongue as it reached his chin. Grimmjow was truly enjoying himself now as he watched Ulquiorra's body submit to him, listening as his breaths became shorter and shaky as he faced the ceiling, possibly his body's last resort to change Grimmjow's mind? 

"Ulquiorra..." As he reached Ulquiorra's lips, he made sure to slip his tongue into his mouth before his lips made contact with Ulquiorra's, watching with sheer joy and lust as the other's eyelids closed soon after. Yes, he wanted it; Ulquiorra was his!  
"Mmm." He made a pleasurable sound with his throat when the other's tongue and lips met his own, a sound that provoked Grimmjow further. Ulquiorra got a weak hold of Grimmjow's shoulders as Grimmjow began to slowly raise himself back into a sitting position, though they both kept the kiss going, their tongues dancing in one another's mouths. 

With ensuring his dominance over Ulquiorra without meeting the faucet in mind, Grimmjow got one hand on the back of Ulquiorra's head and the other on his ass before using his speed to change their positions to favor him more, switching them so that Ulquiorra was now pressed against the wall that he himself had just been against. Ulquiorra gave a small gasp through the kiss, tightening his grip on Grimmjow's shoulders, but he didn't want it to stop. He could feel the other's body being pressed against his own, causing for his own dick to be pressed onto Grimmjow along with the rest of him. The six-and-a-half inch difference was definitely not in his favor; he gave a startled breath and felt himself straighten. 

Grimmjow understood exactly why. He proceeded to move himself as he had intended, all the more thrilled now by the thought of this, grinding against the other as he continued to press himself against him. "Ah-!" Ulquiorra was having trouble getting air now, his heart racing as he felt his dick being violently worked over by the other's lower chest. Spit was escaping the corner of his mouth because of his not being able to safely swallow anymore while letting pleasured sounds escape from his lips that were the result of this new joyous pain in his body, specifically the building of it in his dick. The pressure of it was becoming unbearable as he let out a desperate cry.  
Grimmjow suddenly took Ulquiorra's ass in his hands, grabbing each cheek in each hand, and shoved the tips of his middle fingers inside of Ulquiorra. He stopped the grinding motion, but only long enough for him to thrust his own dick into Ulquiorra while his hands held his ass more open, making it easier for him to get in, along with how wet they both were. It was hell on Ulquiorra's ass as he let out another cry, which only received a more lusting response from Grimmjow. This sort of suffering was just the turn-on he wanted, just the right sexual encouragement. 

As Grimmjow kept going at him, repeatedly pulling out only so far before slamming it all back in, Ulquiorra cried out in agony. He had never thought before that something that felt so great could feel like it was tearing you apart on the inside. As the pounding continued and hastened, Ulquiorra's body gave in. It was such a sweet relief, one that gave Grimmjow the idea to start licking it off him.  
He licked at Ulquiorra's chest and jaw, getting at all of it within his current sight while the other tried to catch his breath, even if it wasn't going to last long. The way Grimmjow was thrusting into him, Ulquiorra wouldn't have been surprised if a rib or even his collar had received some sort of damage. He was pretty sure he must've been bleeding, it hurt so much right now. Oh, but it was such great pain..! 

"Grimm... jow..." Grimmjow looked into the other's eyes. He seemed worn, but Grimmjow wasn't ready to stop just yet, not when he hadn't been able to peak himself quite yet.  
"Almost time to clean this bath up," he whispered, "no worries." He kissed him, some of the result of the other's orgasm still within his mouth when he did so, aiming to share the prize Ulquiorra's body had so generously given up. After about a good ten seconds of that, Grimmjow started back up with the thrusting, Ulquiorra's voice crying out desperately in response, heating Grimmjow further, his nails digging into Ulquiorra's shoulders deeply.  
Ulquiorra's voice hit a new note as he felt Grimmjow get a bit larger inside of him. When the other's orgasm finally came, he regained a firm grip of Grimmjow's shoulders while Grimmjow had his head back in relief. It finally came! "Alright," Grimmjow panted after that was over, "bath time's over now." 

The whole idea of dirty baths sounded so appealing to him now, especially after this one.


	12. Chapter 12

"Grimmjow." It was nighttime now, and the day had only become so much better after the bath, with only the one puking session after lunch being a disappointment. Grimmjow looked up at him from his sleeping bag. "I..." He thought a moment, not quite sure how to finish that thought. He decided to not say that quite yet. Something about even trying to was a bit difficult for him.   
"Hm?"   
"I don't think you should have to sleep on the floor," he decided to instead say. Grimmjow blinked a few times, confused by this sudden new thought as he propped himself up on his elbows, his back facing the floor. "Please." Grimmjow smirked. 

He was trying to get him up there with him now, wasn't he! "I dunno... I think I've taken quite the liking to this floor."   
"Eh?" Ulquiorra's eyes looked disappointed as he turned away from him. "I... Didn't know you had." He was so adorable! Grimmjow bit at his lip as he watched the other lay himself back down. "Good night, Grimmjow."   
"Hey." Ulquiorra was startled by the sudden hands on his waist and the blue-haired head placing its chin onto his left shoulder. "I was just kidding with ya, Ulquiorra. Shit, I would much rather sleep with you than lay on that floor!" Ulquiorra looked over at him while placing his own hands on Grimmjow's. Due to his accident that morning, both of them were going without a top tonight. 

"Some of your jokes are terrible, Grimmjow." He felt Grimmjow lick at his cheek while Grimmjow's hands slipped down Ulquiorra's shorts to carass his thighs.   
"Well, I thought you might, you know... Get it by now." He sighed. "You've definitely gotten better with the whole 'emotions' thing, but..."   
But he wouldn't laugh. He still hadn't even smiled, either. Grimmjow knew his jokes could be cruel, with very few of them _not_ including him being an ass somehow, but he was hoping for something they could laugh about, even if it would've taken a few days before Ulquiorra would find it amusing, too. People tended to be able to laugh about old memories with others that were once bad, right? Like a prank that was misunderstood at first, or a comment that led to a chase or a fight after it was spoken aloud. 

"But what?" Grimmjow shook his head a bit. That would be such a ridiculous thing to say!   
"It's nothing, Ulquiorra." He gave Ulquiorra a smirk before kissing him. "Good night, Ulquiorra."   
"Good night."


	13. Chapter 13

"It's too dangerous..." An unfamiliar, deep, male voice spoke calmly.  
"Relax! I've got it under control." Urahara?  
"But he was one of Aizen's followers!"  
"What, you forget I already knew this?" Ulquiorra couldn't open his eyes or do any sort of movements as he listened to the others talk. "Besides, like it or not, he isn't the first."  
"What!?" The deep voice wasn't so calm anymore. "Urahara! Why are you risking this? We've been able to regain good footing with those back within the Soul Society; this could ruin that all!"  
"If this displeases you so, then I would like to humbly request that you leave the room now so as not to be a witness to the deed by which I'm about to perform." His voice was so calm still, yet it gave his words a feeling of finality, cementing them clearly within the air he spoke. There was a pause of at least three minutes before he heard the other speak again. 

"How many before him, Urahara? How many have you... Brought back?" He sounded unsure, along with a tad bit frightened. Then again, they really were discussing the matter and fact of a man being able to bring back the dead.  
"Eight."  
"What!? Urahara, you aren't counting him as well, are you? I was asking how many you brought back before him, not including him!" It was strange to just simply lie there and listen, unable to watch them, yet he felt he preferred this, too.  
"Alright then, eight."  
"Please tell me you're trying to pull some sort of sick joke on me, Urahara. I can't believe you've even been doing this." The other male was calm again, but his voice was coated with the sound of concern.  
"This is oh so far from a joke, Tessai." Ulquiorra felt a hand place itself on his chest, which he now learned was bare. "I've been at it for a while now, to be honest. Grimmjow Jeagerjaques has been around for a while, you know, as he wasn't killed. Hasn't been causing anyone any trouble, either. As a matter-of-fact, he's fitting himself in like a perfect new glove on the hand of society, what with a job and a good life, having not ended up in jail or anywhere bad." There was a small pause. "He hasn't bought a house yet, however, but surely this one'll change that."  
"That's no excuse for bringing him back, Urahara!" 

"I did bring back Coyote, however, and Szayel Aporro-"  
"You even brought that lunatic back, too!?" The names Urahara listed all sounded so familiar... They had worked for this Aizen figure, too, hadn't they? Ulquiorra was still struggling to figure out who this even was and what he had even done that had been so terrible.  
"Ah, yes, but not without trying out a little something on him, which has proven successful thus far. It's a pill that can supress one's memories completely, excluding only what knowledge is neccesary for one's survival. That ought to make him more tolerable for Coyote."  
"What do you mean by this?"  
"Why, if I go and erase their prior memories completely, it'll become harder for them to properly function in the outside world, in their new lives." So this meant that Ulquiorra wasn't the only one who had been drugged to forget it all, then. "In order to prevent them from being diagnosed with some nonsense lie by a confused doctor or locked away somewhere forever for their awkward ignorance, I decided to try giving them to someone whom I had already resurrected or was already out an' about and knew was within a well enough position to care for them. Coyote's taking care of Szayel Aporro and himself quite well, honestly, and Nnoitra's old pal Tesla's doing well with him, too." 

"But why go to all this trouble? Why risk it, Urahara?"  
"Don't worry so much! Besides, I had already planned on letting him be my last one."  
"Are you without reasoning, then, Urahara, for your actions?" Urahara sighed, his hand gone from Ulquiorra's chest and placing itself now on his cheek.  
"I guess I've gone and earned myself some strange pity for them all, Tessai." 

"Ulquiorra?" He slowly opened his eyes to find Grimmjow lying himself back down beside him. "Good morning."  
"Good morning, Grimmjow."  
"That blizzard's still going, you know." Ulquiorra nodded. He began to wonder for just how much longer this relentless storm would go on. "I made a call, by the way. I called that Urahara guy and asked him if he could come check on you." Ulquiorra yawned while nodding his head slowly. He ought to know what was going on; Ulquiorra was sure of it. "Other than your fever, though, you seem ok so far."  
"And I slept well."  
"Well, that's definitely a good sign!" Ulquiorra got himself against Grimmjow, wanting him to be so much nearer. He rested his head against Grimmjow's exposed chest, what with him having only changed out of his pajama pants for jeans. "Well, guess what that crazy bastard said?" Ulquiorra closed his eyes, enjoying the scent and feel of the other.  
"Hm?" 

"He's gonna be coming over today, through that blizzard!" Ulquiorra looked up at him.  
"Did he really say this?"  
"Yep! He's gonna try his luck against-" Grimmjow stopped as the sound of knocking on their front door came clearly through the hall. "That can't be..." Grimmjow stood himself up beside the bed and was gone to the door to answer it. Before him stood the familiar man by which they had just been speaking of, his body covered by a long black cloak dotted with snow with the hood up and over his head. His grey eyes and the edges of his hair being visible gave him away.  
"Hello, Grimmjow! Must be warm in here if you're willing to walk around in nothing but that!" Grimmjow smirked.  
"What, ya cold?"  
"Yes, now that you ask. You know just how long I walked to get here, now, so don't go teasing me for being cold!" Grimmjow gave a laugh while the candy shop owner stepped himself inside. 

"Hope I'm not about to be taking care of your ass, too!"  
"No, no, in that sense, I'm fine." Urahara frowned as he pulled his hood off, revealing the rest of his face as he lowered the dark green scarf he was wearing. "Now, where is Ulquiorra?" Grimmjow gestured with his head down the hall before leading the other man down it. When they reached his room, Ulquiorra looked over at them curiously as they entered the room. "Ah, good morning, Ulquiorra!"  
"Good morning, Urahara." Urahara looked over at Grimmjow curiously.  
"I assume you told him to be expecting me?"  
"Yeah, but he's been having weird nightmares and a few weird dreams for a little over a week now, an' you've apparently been in at least one of them."  
"Two now." They looked from each other to Ulquiorra. "This morning I had another one. I could hear you, Urahara, and another man, one with a deep voice, talking. I was lying in that room with you two, and I couldn't open my eyes at all." Urahara frowned a bit as he considered this. 

"It appears the pill's been wearing off, then, due to a memory trigger of some sort. I didn't think you would recollect anything involving me, however, that would be of that sort. Seems something's given you quite the knack for remembering things now!" Ulquiorra shrugged, looking now at the wall on the other side of the room. Urahara glanced at Grimmjow. "So, what are the current symptoms of his condition, other than the recollections via dreams and nightmares?"  
"Definitely vomiting. I can tell he's feeling weaker, too. Migraines are another thing, also. Those can get really bad, but Kurosaki gave us something for him to take to help that." Grimmjow looked over at Ulquiorra. "I'm pretty sure that covers it, right?" He nodded. "Oh, and fever."  
"Must be the side effects of the pill wearing off." Urahara walked over to Ulquiorra's bed and sat down beside him, placing the back of his cold hand on Ulquiorra's forehead. "Hm." 

"Don't side effects happen when you actually take something, not after it's done workin' on ya? I thought that was the whole reason why on commercials it's recommended you don't take certain things or stop taking them if something occurs _while_ taking it."  
"Yes," Urahara responded as he moved his hand onto Ulquiorra's chest and got his phone out to watch the seconds on the clock, "you are indeed correct, Grimmjow, for the most part, but there are exceptions. You see, this pill was given to him-"  
"After you brought me back, but before Grimmjow came and got me." Urahara looked surprised as he looked back at Ulquiorra. "Please excuse me for interrupting, Urahara."  
"Actually, I'm glad you did. This is vital information for me, you know, in order to learn more about the full effects of the pill." He shut his cell phone and put it back into his cloak's pocket. "To be able to recollect the occurances between your revival and your awakening... Why, to think that the pill allowed this..!" 

"Remember why you're here, Clogs." Urahara looked over at Grimmjow disapprovingly.  
"'Clogs?' I do recall Ichigo giving me a nickname with that in it, but never 'Clogs.' Besides, he appearantly had some trouble remembering my name for a while, but it's become quite obvious that your memory is in no such position. Also, I'm not even wearing my clogs today." He had worn his long black snow boots, but only due to the blizzard.  
"I'll call ya that if I want to! Now, whatcha gonna do for Ulquiorra?" Urahara reached into his cloak and revealed a pill container he had brought with him, just in case.  
"Give him one of these, of course! Seems you've done what I had predicted and have helped him adjust to the world of the humans and all its fun." So he really did plan for Grimmjow to find Ulquiorra and take him in! The idea bothered him a bit, but he was kind of glad for it, too, knowing how well things had gotten for them. If only Grimmjow could just get those lips to smile now... 

"It ought to be safe now to give him one of the pills to counter the first one. Of course, it'll take a while to kick in, but its full effects will fix both the recollection nightmares and the illness."  
"How do you know it'll get rid of his sickness?" Urahara smirked.  
"I thought you might want to know that." His expression became more serious now. "You see, the memories are overwhelming his mind enough to overstimulate his brain and weaken his immune system, causing the illness. I'm sure these memories have come like photo albums most of the time, correct, Ulquiorra? In order, most of the time, but almost random and without much attachment or reason between them, switching quickly between different scenes?" He nodded. "Your mind's trying to sort it all out again as it's resurfacing, Ulquiorra. Because there's so much to work with, however, it's been getting overworked, causing it to focus too much on the sorting and too little on the rest of your body's needs."  
"So, in other words, his brain's neglecting his body?" 

"Precisely. This pill," he spoke as he took one of the light blue pills out, "will put him into a condition sort of like a coma and further stimulate his central neural system. By doing this, his mind will be allowed to focus solely on the task of sorting things back out while not having to worry about his daily needs, like thinking about walking, speaking, eating, and all that such."  
"But what about his breathing? You did take into account that we need to do that, too, when you made those?"  
"Of course I did! Now, you didn't hear me say that the rest of his brain would completely shut down, did you? No. All of the other necessary processes would simply slow, though there may be a chance that he could stop breathing every now and again." Grimmjow's eyes widened. "Oh, don't look so worried! If you breathe for a bit, then stop breathing, then unless you stopped because you're dead, your heart will still continue to beat without you having to breathe. People forget to breathe all the time, yet they aren't falling like flies because of it, now, are they?" He took one of Ulquiorra's hands and placed the pill into it. "Just swallow this down and it'll start working in about ten to thirty minutes."  
"'k." Urahara smiled. 

"You sure have turned out quite well, now, haven't you! And here I was worrying you might've started recalling things too early, or perhaps that Grimmjow had somehow corrupted you!"  
"I'm still in here, ya know." Urahara turned to look at him.  
"I'm proud of you, too, Grimmjow."  
"That's not at all what I meant by that!" Urahara stood himself up and walked over to the door.  
"Well, it appears my work here is done! I'll be leaving you two now-"  
"Wait, Urahara." He turned to look at Ulquiorra.  
"Yes?"  
"I wanted to ask you about the last dream I mentioned earlier." Grimmjow looked over at Ulquiorra before glancing back at the merchant. What was there for him to ask about? "You... You weren't forced to bring any of us back at all, were you?" Urahara shook his head. "The reason you told the other man... Was that really the only reason for it?" He thought a moment before answering. 

"Well, I was trying out a little new idea I got, and it was working. I was also on a bit of a roll after I figured out that it worked. Wasn't even that hard to do, either."  
"Sounds reasonable to me," Grimmjow remarked. Ulquiorra, however, felt there may have been more to it than just all that and pity. What was it that he wasn't telling them?  
"Urahara?" He nodded. The boy just seemed to keep thinking up new things to say to keep him here, it seemed.  
"Yes?"  
"What sort of position do you think this puts you in, then, bringing us all back?" An odd question, but Urahara thought it over.  
"Well, people may be either pissed at me for it or understand my reasoning and be glad that I did it. After all, I've come into knowledge that you've befriended Miss Inoue and Ichigo?" Ulquiorra nodded. "You know, now that I think about it, this may also put me into a fatherly position to you all!" 

"What!?" There was no way that crazy man was going to get Grimmjow to think about him like that for _anyone_ and accept the idea! "That's absolutely absurd-!"  
"I guess I'll be seeing you both again soon enough." He was gone before Grimmjow could even try to continue his rant, leaving no trace behind that he had ever even been there except for the pill in Ulquiorra's hand and the slightly wet footsteps that led from the door to the room. Grimmjow sighed heavily.  
"Crazy bastard." He left to the bathroom and came out with the cup after filling it with water.  
"He seems ok to me." Ulquiorra slipped the pill into his mouth before Grimmjow helped him with the water. 

"You have a high tolerance for crazy people, Ulquiorra."


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short, small bit following Urahara back to his shop.

As he stepped back into his shop, Urahara sat himself down against a wall and held the cloak tightly around himself. The wind was colder than cold enough to freeze over hell, as far as he was concerned. He was so far from taking the heating for granted now, that's for sure. "How was your trip, Boss?" He looked over to see Tessai walk in with a steaming bowl of soup. Oh, thank goodness!   
"It went well. Thank you." After taking the soup from him, Urahara retrieved the spoon and began to eat. "It appears Grimmjow and Ulquiorra are doing quite well right now."   
"That's very good news." Urahara nodded. 

"Just what I was hoping for, too. It seems the whole problem, however, was due to the pill I had given Ulquiorra when I brought him back."   
"The one to supress his memories?" He nodded. "But wasn't that the whole reason he was able to cope so well? I'm sure without it we would've had to worry about taking him back down again." As true as this was, Urahara was worried now about the other two. He had, after all, given the pill to Szayel Aporro and Nnoitra, too, when he brought them back.   
"Yes, that is indeed true. This does, however, bring up the fact of Szayel Aporro and Nnoitra's drugging. Surely they, too, are going to have ill effects occur once they finally begin to recall their previous lives?" 

"Well then, it appears you're going to have to get in contact with their groups soon, hm?" Urahara nodded.   
"Yes, but it appears 'soon' won't be today. Not after that." He was definitely not making any calls that might lead to him going back out there today, especially not when he's already handled one.   
"I would have to agree on this." Tessai stood and went into another room.   
Sure, say that and then suddenly leave. "You trying to guilt me into calling them?" He looked beside himself as Tessai suddenly returned, a blanket suddenly around Urahara's shoulders. "Or not."   
"Making assumptions again?"   
"Oh, don't we all."


	15. Chapter 15

Morning came, yet Ulquiorra still wasn't awake yet. Grimmjow was eager to wake him, what with the blizzard finally having died down, but he didn't want to risk it. Instead, Grimmjow got his winter gear on and a few other things and left to go take a quick trip. Just as he was leaving, Orihime was walking towards the house. "Grimmjow!" She smiled cheerfully and quickly made her way to him.   
"Hey." She was certainly a morning person, as far as he could tell. It was seven o'clock, yet she still seemed to have so much pep in her!   
"How has your morning been?"   
"Fine, so far. And yours?"   
"It's been wonderful! Oh, but I shouldn't go on about it, seeing how you look like you've got somewhere to go!" Grimmjow shrugged. "How's Ulquiorra doing?" How in the world was he supposed to explain this one without freaking her out? He thought for a moment before he spoke. 

"He's doing well. Still sleeping, though, that's for sure!" She smiled.   
"That's great to hear! Oh, might I ask where you're going?"   
"Well..." Grimmjow glanced away.   
"Huh?"   
"You know how today's the first of December, right?" She nodded. "Well, today's a special day, and I wanted to make it a good one for Ulquiorra when he wakes up."   
"Oh, what's special about today, Grimmjow?" She seemed excited now, her hands together in excitement and eagerness radiating from her. "Maybe I can do something to help you!" He smirked.   
"Well, I guess you'll be coming with me, then?" She gave a cheer before he began leading the way. Hopefully she would indeed be able to help him out with this. 

Her help ought to make this go all the better, he bet.


	16. Chapter 16

"Ulquiorra?" Grimmjow stepped himself into the house, going straight to the kitchen with Orihime following behind him. They set what they were carrying down on the kitchen table. "I'll handle this. You go do your thing."   
"Right!" As she left, Grimmjow put a few of the things they had gotten away, then took all of his winter wear off, leaving him with his black pants, before heading down the hall to Ulquiorra's bedroom. It was eleven eighteen now, and he could see the other was awake. He still seemed tired, however; might've just woken up.   
"Ulqui?" Ulquiorra yawned, wiping at one of his eyes before looking over at Grimmjow. "How ya feelin'?"   
"Weird." Grimmjow went over and sat next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders.   
"Oh, and you didn't feel that way before?" Ulquiorra leaned against him. "Have you eaten anything at all while I was gone, Ulquiorra?"   
"I just woke up a few minutes ago... I haven't even gotten out of bed yet." Grimmjow placed his head on Ulquiorra's. "Where were you? You seem as though you just got back from somewhere."   
"Went shopping. Seems we ran out of a few things here and there, so I went and bought 'em."   
"In that blizzard?" Grimmjow frowned. 

"Like hell! I'm not Urahara, and it wasn't a big enough problem to get me out in that! The blizzard's gone, so I didn't have to worry about that at all."   
"Good." Ulquiorra put a hand on Grimmjow's cheek. "You're still cold."   
"Well, I haven't been inside for very long." Ulquiorra repositioned himself, getting away from Grimmjow's arm to kneel in front of him. He reached over now and placed a finger on Grimmjow's bottom lip.   
"Yep." He leaned in and kissed him, placing his arms around Grimmjow's shoulders. Grimmjow forced his tongue through Ulquiorra's lips as he placed his hands on Ulquiorra's bare back and pulled him closer. It was a great make-out session, but Grimmjow knew he had to try not to let this drag out or go too far. Not until much later, that is. 

"Ulqui, I've got a surprise for you." He looked confused at this comment. Was it for a reason of some sort that he wasn't aware of, or was it just him giving him something for the hell of it? Grimmjow went over to Ulquiorra's dresser and got an outfit out for him. It was a long-sleeved green turtle neck and one of his pairs of white pants that was a little too long for his legs. This ought to keep him warm. "Here. You take a shower while I make sure it's ready." Ready? What sort of surprise would require him to do this? Grimmjow now also grabbed a pair of Ulquiorra's boxers and handed those to him, too. "Almost forgot to hand you those, too."   
"Grimmjow-"   
"Come on, now." Ulquiorra walked into his bathroom, pondering this weirdness as he undressed, turning the faucet on for the tub so the water could warm up. Well, whatever it was, he knew rushing this wouldn't help him find out any sooner; if it wasn't ready yet, it may or may not take a while to get all together. Who knew? As he stepped into the tub, Ulquiorra pulled the shower curtains and then pulled the tab on the faucet up so as to switch the water to the shower head.   
Hopefully a shower would give Grimmjow sufficient time to ensure that it was all ready, whatever it all was.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Birthday and fluffs

When he stepped out of the shower, his towel wrapped around him, the door suddenly opened, Grimmjow surprising Ulquiorra by grabbing his shoulders and giving him a kiss. He seemed excited over something, that's for sure. "Grimmjow-"   
"No, that wasn't the big surprise at all." He smirked. "Hurry up and get dressed!" Ulquiorra nodded, though he suddenly felt Grimmjow grab the towel right off of his ass and begin to dry Ulquiorra for him.   
"Uh, Grimmjow, I can-" He gave a yelp as Grimmjow nipped at his left nipple. At the same moment, Grimmjow was drying off his inner thighs tediously, making it almost seem like that one area was going to never be dry. He wouldn't have been surprised at all if Grimmjow suddenly decided to grab his cock and start something down there after that bite. 

While he was drying him there, Ulquiorra got his shirt off the pile and got that on, having a little trouble with the collar, though he was able to get it on, regardless. "I do hope I'm dry there now," Ulquiorra remarked, staring at a wall as he spoke.   
"Yeah, obviously." Grimmjow smirked. "Couldn't help it." He heard Grimmjow grab his boxers and pants before he felt his arm get pulled downward, forcing him down onto his ass. Sure enough, Grimmjow put his boxers and pants on for him. "There. Done." Grimmjow stood himself up, then got one of Ulquiorra's hands and got him onto his feet. "Now, let's go see your surprise." 

Ulquiorra was blindfolded before they left the bedroom, holding onto Grimmjow's left hand with both of his as he directed him safely down the hallway. They were in the living room when Grimmjow stopped. "Here we are!" Grimmjow removed the blindfold to reveal the group that was awaiting their arrival.   
"Surprise! Happy birthday Ulquiorra!" His eyes widened as he looked around at them. Orihime was standing beside Ichigo on the other side of the coffee table, her smile as bright as ever while Ichigo was smirking. Urahara was standing in front of the couch, a smile on his face while Tessai was beside him, his arms folded over his chest, though he did have a friendly smirk under his mustache. On the table sat a cake, along with several presents.   
"What..?" Grimmjow put a hand on his shoulder.   
"Today's your special day of the year, Ulquiorra!" 

"Yes, indeed!" Urahara sat himself down on the couch. "I was surprised to hear from Orihime about the news, but after that conversation we had yesterday, I was far from missing this."   
"Hold on now," Ichigo glanced over at him, "what did you do now?"   
"I just dropped by here to fix up Ulquiorra. I mean, did you think it was by some miracle that he's gotten better?" Ichigo looked back over at Ulquiorra before returning his watch to Urahara.   
"That doesn't tell me anything about what you were talking about, Hat 'n Clogs."   
"So," Grimmjow spoke, "whatcha think?" Ulquiorra looked over from Ichigo and Urahara to him.   
"I... I don't recall ever doing this before." Grimmjow nodded. "I... like it."   
"Good to hear!" Before he could say more, they could hear knocking at the front door. Everyone but Urahara seemed curious as to who could possibly be the one at the door. 

"Urahara?" Ichigo now looked over at him.   
"Did you decide to consider your earlier idea that you had mentioned back at the shop, Boss?" Tessai had a good idea now about who the surprise guest or guests could be.   
"I made a few calls before we left," Urahara admitted, "but I'm sure they won't bother anyone too much, hm?" He looked over at Grimmjow. "Knowing how cold it is, you may want to go and answer that, and invite them in if you think it would be the best idea." Grimmjow walked over to the door. The guy was nuts, so he was sure to be ready for anyone to be on the other side as he grabbed the door nob and opened the door.   
"Grimmjow. Good afternoon." Coyote Starrk was dressed lightly for the weather, wearing only a light jacket and scarf with his outfit. His boots were of his own choice, undecided by the weather. Szayel was beside him, dressed more appropriately for the weather, his coat being obviously thicker than Coyote's jacket. 

"Starrk?" Grimmjow couldn't believe it. Coyote! Szayel, too! Grimmjow looked over his shoulder at Urahara, who only gave him a nod. He looked back at the two. "It's definitely been a while!"   
"Yes, it has." Starrk glanced over towards the living room. "Seems we're the first ones to make it over here, thinking about the group we were told would be here."   
"Yes," Szayel spoke, "but, if you wouldn't mind, I'm getting cold over here." Coyote placed a hand on the pink-haired man's shoulder as Grimmjow stepped out of the way to let them in.   
"From what Coyote just said, I assume there are more to come?" Urahara nodded.   
"Yep. I made sure to keep in contact with everyone on my list, so as to make sure nothing went all too wrong."   
"By keeping in contact," Tessai spoke, "he means he kept track of them."   
"So," Grimmjow began as he closed the door, "we now have all the guests I invited, plus Starrk and Granz."   
"For now," Urahara agreed, "that's everyone present."   
"Hopefully you didn't go an' invite too many people, Clogs." Urahara pondered this for a moment before shrugging.   
"Depends on how many's too many to you, Grimmjow." 

There was knocking at the door.   
"Looks like more of the cavalry has arrived!" Urahara sure seemed to be glad for the reoccurring knocking. After a while, which included several trips to the door for Grimmjow, the whole Espada gang was there, besides Barragan and Aaronniero, plus Tesla was now there, too.   
"Ulquiorra?" He looked over his shoulder at Grimmjow curiously. When he didn't continue to speak, Ulquiorra walked over and followed him to the hall. "Quite a crowd, huh?" He nodded. "Bet ya remember most of 'em now, too."   
"Yes." Grimmjow felt a little nervous, but he had talked to Coyote a little bit about this before deciding to try. He was glad he did that now; he surely would've dropped the idea otherwise. He said that he should just try to jump in and make sure he couldn't back down... This had to work! 

"I have something I need to ask you." Ulquiorra tilted his head to the right a bit, wondering what to expect. "I have somethin' I need to say," Grimmjow reworded more loudly, getting the attention of the others that were in the living room. With their attention caught, he knew he couldn't back down now. That would be embarrassing, along with a good way to make a fool of himself in front of everyone. "Ulquiorra." Ulquiorra looked back from the living room to Grimmjow now. "We've been livin' this new life of ours together here for a li'l over six months now. I was hoping... We could try starting it new again." What in the world was he saying? Ulquiorra was confused by this, then surprised when Grimmjow got a small black box from his pocket and got down on one knee before him. "Ulquiorra Cifer," he spoke confidently, even though he felt nervous as hell and wished he hadn't gotten himself into this, "will you... Will you marry me?" Oh crap, and what if he said no?   
Ulquiorra was caught completely off-guard by this, looking down at the ring, then Grimmjow. 

"Grimmjow..." Shit, was he trying to say no nicely, not make it too bad? "I... I love you so much." After he had heard Ulquiorra say his name, Grimmjow had decided to look over at a wall over Ulquiorra's shoulder. When he heard this, he looked back at Ulquiorra's face to see him smiling, his emerald eyes seeming brighter now. "Yes. Yes, I will." There was cheering in the other room as Grimmjow placed the ring onto Ulquiorra's finger, then stood himself up to receive a surprise hug from Ulquiorra. That smile was so beautiful to Grimmjow, he was never going to forget it. He definitely didn't want this to be the last time he sees it, either. He held him tightly, feeling almost like this was all some sort of impossible dream, it was so happy. "I... I love you, Grimmjow."   
"I love you, too, Ulquiorra."


	18. Chapter 18

After everyone had left, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra got the place cleaned up before going into Ulquiorra's room. It was already seven o'clock. "That was fun," Grimmjow commented, holding Ulquiorra's ringed hand tightly. Ulquiorra nodded.   
"Thank you so much, Grimmjow." He felt Ulquiorra tighten his own grip and smiled.   
"Heh, no prob. I'm just glad you enjoyed it all." They sat beside one another on his bed.   
"I guess I need to get a shower," Ulquiorra remarked quietly, looking down at the side of the bed. Grimmjow scooped him up suddenly in his arms. "Wha-?"   
"We both need to," Grimmjow stood, "so why not?" He carried him into the bathroom, setting him down to undress him before quickly slipping himself out of his pants and boxers. As Ulquiorra stood himself up, he heard Grimmjow turn the water on for the shower. 

"A-ah!" Grimmjow had suddenly gotten a grip on his dick and had started pumping Ulquiorra. His other hand had dedicated itself to that nipple and gave it a twist. Ulquiorra reached back, tangling his hands in Grimmjow's hair as he was led backwards into the shower. The pain was so much and so sudden for him, and he could feel his cheeks warm as they gained color. "Grimmjow!" He wasn't at all wanting this to stop now; he wanted it to get so much harder from here, so much more excruciatingly pleasing. Wet now, Grimmjow licked at the back of Ulquiorra's neck, the other flinching a bit, the knowledge of the oncoming bite making his body reactive. It caught him off-guard when it happened to his shoulder, the bite hard and deep, blood being drawn out of it.   
Grimmjow licked hungrily at it as he messed with Ulquiorra's dick, his other hand now sticking two fingers into Ulquiorra's mouth. To hear him shout and taste his blood, to see his body struggle, to feel his tongue and dick and smell his sweet body... Grimmjow loved it all. He slowly brought himself downward, Grimmjow dragging those two fingers down Ulquiorra's neck, then his body. Having lost Grimmjow's hair to occupy his hands, Ulquiorra pressed his hands against the wall, clenching them tightly. His eyes widened as he felt Grimmjow's hair brush quickly on the bottom of his dick, the other slipping between his legs. 

He gave a small gasp when he felt a sudden suck on his cock, Grimmjow having taken it into his mouth. He got both of his hands onto the other's head, letting out small sounds of pleasure as Grimmjow continued the blowjob, his tongue deciding to move about the flesh. Grimmjow caressed Ulquiorra's inner legs as he continued on with his licking and sucking, while Ulquiorra tangled his hands into the blue hair while he felt moans escape him.   
Grimmjow gained a lusting smile as he let Ulquiorra's member free, but not for long before Grimmjow began to lick around it. He stood slowly, dragging his tongue up the other's body. Just as his tongue reached Ulquiorra's lips, he suddenly changed route, taking both of Ulquiorra's wrists into his right hand as he got the other's front side to a wall. The pale body was so worked up now, having pre-cum escaping him while he was desperate for more sexual pleasure. Grimmjow used his other hand to put two fingers into Ulquiorra's ass. Ulquiorra couldn't relax himself, his mind and body had become so absorbed with this all. 

He flinched as Grimmjow shoved into him. He was still a bit sore there from their last round, though he hadn't said anything about it, and clenched his hands tightly into fists. Grimmjow thrust in harder, listening with joy to the other's pained cries. After a good number of rounds of removing some of and then rethrusting all of himself in, Grimmjow started picking up his pace. He grabbed at Ulquiorra's chest, digging into his pale flesh with his nails. Ulquiorra got his forehead against the wall, closing his eyes tightly as he felt the nails clawing into him. Ulquiorra's mouth remained open as he struggled for air, spit trailing down the corner of his mouth along with the water from his wet hair. When his release came, he couldn't help the moan that escaped his lips.   
A bit after, he felt Grimmjow's release inside him just as he felt a bite on the back of his neck. Shit, the pain! Blood was tracing down his chest, the clawing having broken through at places. Grimmjow got Ulquiorra against his chest as he went to his knees, then sat down on his ass. They both now were doing their best to catch their breath, along with Ulquiorra getting a hand on the side of the tub and the wall to slowly lift himself off of Grimmjow, taking deep, shaking breaths the whole way off. After a couple of minutes, Ulquiorra was off and seated in front of Grimmjow, still trembling. They both were relaxed once more when Ulquiorra felt Grimmjow kiss where he had bitten the back of his neck.   
"Love you." Ulquiorra smiled, looking over his shoulder at Grimmjow.   
"I love you, too, Grimmjow." Ulquiorra turned himself to face Grimmjow and embraced his lips with his own, placing his arms around Grimmjow's shoulders as their tongues now began to do all the moving. His smile was so enchanting, so priceless in all its ways, Grimmjow felt victorious to have gotten to see it twice now. 

He could never describe his smile to be as bright as the sun, however; daytime just didn't suit the smaller male. Ulquiorra's smile was more like the moon, bright and glorious as it shines its light in the darkness, more modest in its ways than the sun. 

After they had cleaned themselves up, Ulquiorra looked around the bathroom inquisitively as they sat together on the rug, Ulquiorra sitting in Grimmjow's lap while Grimmjow had the towel wrapped around them. "Something wrong, Ulqui?"   
"Neither of us got anything to wear, did we?"   
"Nope, but I think we'll be fine." Grimmjow smirked. "I mean, we'll be so far from the first people to sleep nude." Ulquiorra looked up at him. "Besides, we're engaged now, ain't we? No big deal."   
"True." Grimmjow scooped Ulquiorra up and walked out of the bathroom towards the bed. "I'm still wet, Grimmjow."   
"Fine then." As he set him down on his feet and returned to the bathroom, Ulquiorra watched him curiously, confused that he hadn't just brought him into the bathroom. Grimmjow brought the towel out and walked over to Ulquiorra. "I can fix this one easy." Ulquiorra stood there for Grimmjow as he dried him off, thinking now that he might just prefer this, anyway. When he was going over Ulquiorra's ass, he cringed a bit.   
"Grimmjow."   
"Sorry." Seemed that round had really got him there. 

"Grimmjow?" He glanced up at Ulquiorra, going slowly over the backs of his legs. "All those scratches that were on my chest... They've all vanished." Did he still have his regeneration skills? There was a chance this could be the explanation, especially since the most he had ever gotten, injury-wise, up until this point were paper cuts and small bruises, things that were practically unnoticeable to begin with, then go away quite fast on their own, along with that cut from the new knife. Unlike the smaller stuff, however, they had cleaned and wrapped it, giving the chance that it had been kept wrapped up for so long for possibly no reason. Ulquiorra thought a moment about this possibility, too, slowly bringing one of his hands down his chest. There really was nothing left of those scratches, was there?   
"Seems you've still got it, huh?" Ulquiorra nodded. "Well, that's a relief, especially with the way we'll be playin'." He brought the towel up the front of Ulquiorra's legs, pausing to toy with him a bit when he got up to his dick. It was such a bad temptation for him, to want Ulquiorra to suffer in such a way that would get them both off on it. It wasn't going to help him one bit that the other male's body was completely vulnerable to him, completely exposed and willing, submissive to him if he did just the right things to him. 

"Grimmjow." He smirked seductively as he brought the towel up Ulquiorra's chest.   
"Yes, Ulqui?" When Grimmjow was fully standing, Ulquiorra was holding Grimmjow's hands, having stopped the drying just before he had gotten the towel to his face.   
"I think I'll be fine now." Grimmjow bent down a bit to kiss his neck, getting Ulquiorra's attention, suddenly causing Ulquiorra to want him to be kissing elsewhere, whether or not it was his lips or somewhere more naughty. "Grimmjow..." When Grimmjow lifted his head, Ulquiorra kissed him, getting his arms around him. Grimmjow lifted Ulquiorra up, not breaking the embrace as he brought them to the bed. He pressed himself against the smaller body after placing him on the bed, wanting so badly to be back inside of him, yet knowing he had to refrain. With the blizzard gone and nature showing no signs of another coming too soon, they would both have work to get to tomorrow morning. They couldn't spend the night having sex. Not tonight, at least. Besides, they did just finish a round.   
It was late now, anyway, being nine forty already. "Ulquiorra." He watched Grimmjow curiously. "Good night." He laid himself down beside Ulquiorra and pulled the covers over both of them before getting his arms around Ulquiorra, holding him against his chest.   
"Good night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, fluffy ending, and I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
